Once photographing meant a large box camera on a tripod, shifting film plate after each shot - and working with a dark cloth over your head and the camera.

But then something happened...

The Leica was extremely compact and could be fitted with a very high quality lens that enabled photographers to work in ordinary outdoor settings with available light. It was always instantly ready to capture life and action effortlessly from any angle with the photographer often able to remain unnoticed. Without the usual heavy equipment, photographs of people no longer had to be confined to stiff conventionally artistic poses.

"Barnack's camera"

Oskar Barnack was headhuntet from Carl Zeiss to be the manager of the Research & Development Department at Leitz. He became the designer of the Ur-Leica which he made two (possibly three) samples of in the period 1912-1913 with the purpose to test film stock and/or lenses for movie films. Or perhaps because he couldn't carry the traditional large plate cameras and wanted a smaller camera for him self. The reasons told today are many, but that the Ur-Leica was designed as a compact means to test film stock is the most reliable. Barnack was a film geek and moving pictures was the new revolution back in early 1900's.

As early as 1905, Barnack had the idea of reducing the format of negatives and then enlarging the photographs after they had been exposed, "small negative, large picture", was his motto, involving a small camera and an enlarger. Till that moment, the size of the negative had been determining the size of the final picutre.

In any case, he learned that it could actually be turned into a new type of compact as the "rotated" film format of film was plenty sharp (the film format for motion pictures was 24x18mm for large cinema theater screens, and rotating the film inside the camera and doubling the area made the 24x36mm format). With the development of an enlarger, the reduced negative format could then be printed in a larger size than the negative.

Another Leitz employee, Max Berek, was instrumental in developing a lens for this camera, as he developed the first Elmax 50mm f/3.5 lens as the optimum focal length for the 24 x 36mm format. To this date, the 50mm is still the standard lens for Leica cameras and is the one the rangerfinderfocusing mechanism was deveopled for.

Ernst Leitz II decided to put "Barnacks camera" into commercial production in 1924 after they had produced a limited run of 31 Leica O Series cameras in 1923. Ernst Leitz II made this decision on his own as all of his advisers warned him against the large risk it would involve for such a rather small company to enter the camera market. Even most professional photographers who had been presented for the Leica, didn't believe in such a camera.

But Leitz had lost the large Russian market for microscopes after World War I and was hungry for new expansion into a field he felt could be a promising future. In 1923 Germany got a new stable currency, but there was still much less demand. Instead of letting staff go into unemployment, Leitz had decided to keep his workforce despite any sacrifice.

The production started in 1925 with just 100 cameras a month, but then soon 1,000 a month. The workforce, trained in precision mechanics and -optics of microscopes, had new work to do. The price of the camera was high; somewhat the same range as any of the best cameras of the time. The build quality was exceptional, for a small negative to match the precision and quality of larger format cameras, once the small negative had been enlarged. Even some professional photogarphers got enthusiastic for the Leica once it was a reality.

Then years later, in 1935, the camera and enlarger section was the most profitable for the Leitz company that still produced their famed microscopes and huntingscopes.

The original camera (above) resides in a safe at Leica Camera AG. Probably only one (some say only two or three) were made, and this one was supposedly renovated after a fire.

A 1923 handmade prototype no 107 of the [between 25 and] 31 made - only twelve of them are known to exist today - was sold on May 28, 2011 for €1,320,000. In May 2012 prototype no 116 was sold for 2,160,000 at the 21st WestLicht Photographic Auction in Vienna. Those cameras didn't have a model name at the time, just a serial number. (See page 2 of this article).

A test shot done by Oscar Barnack ca. 1914 in the city of Wetzlar, using the Ur-Leica.

Carl Kellner

Ernst Leitz I Senior

Ernst Leitz I [1843-1920] becoame partner in the factory "Optical Institute" [founded 1849 by Carl Kellner to produce optical microscopes] in 1865 when there was only twelve employees. He partnered with the widow of the original founder and her husband, Friedrich Behltle (who had been an apprentice of Carl Kellner and then married the widow after Carl Kellner died in 1855 of Tuberculosis at age 29).

Ernst Leitz I (ca. 1917)
Photo: Oskar Barnack

Ernst Leitz II Junior

IFour years later, in 1869, he takes over the sole management and expands it under his name: Ernst Leitz Optical Industry. Twenty years later there is 120 employees and they have sold their microscope no 10.000.

The company was run as a family company, as it was tradition in those days where sons would take over their fathers work and often 2-3 generations would be in the same company. In fact, also amongst the amployees, sons and grandsons would often follow their parents careers in companies like Leitz.

Leitz family ownership of the company will last for more than 100 years this way, till they had to start selling in the 1970s.

Ernst Leitz II (aka Ernst Leitz Junior)

Ernst Leitz II [1871-1956] was partner in the business since 1906 and takes over after his fathers dead in 1920. When he decides to start production of the Leitz camera in 1924 there is 1,000 - 1,500 employees in the company.

Ernst Letiz II was also the one helping hundreds of jews flee Germany during the World War, together with his daugher Elise Kuhn-Leitz (see story about the "Leica Freedom Train" on page 2).

Ernst Leitz II was awarded the title honoarry citizen of Wetzlar in 1949. He built the house "Haus Friedwart" (now a tourist attraction) with his second wife Hedwig Wachsmuth [1877–1937] after his first wife, Elsie had died in 1910, leaving Ernst Leitz II alone with their three kids in his previous house, "Rosenberg" at Laufdorfer Weg 3 in Wetzlar.

Henri Cartier-Bresson stayed in Haus Friedwart when he visited Wetzlar, and was a friend of the Leitz family and Ernst Leitz II's daughter of his first wife, Elsie Kühn-Leitz (1903-1985) in particular.

Ernst Leitz II took the miniature camera, the first Ur-Leica to New York and made this photo in Manhatten, 1914 or 1924.

Dr. Henri Dumur

As Ernst Leitz I's eldest son Ludwig Leitz (who had taken care of the American arm of the business) had died in a riding accident in 1898, the Swiss grendnephew of Ernst Leitz, Henri Dumur [1885–1977], was imported to Wetzlar where he trained to become a manager. First as commercial director, later (during the World War II years) the managing director together with Ernst Leitz III. A Leica IIIf ’Henri Dumur’ model was dedicated to Henri Dumur.

The Leica IIIf "Henri Dumur" model

Email Address

First Name

Last Name

Ernst Leitz III

Ernst Leitz III (1955)

Ernst Leitz III [1906-1979] joined the family business as an apprentice mechanic in 1924 (and studied physics in Berlin). When the companies Ernst Leitz KG and Ernst Leitz GmbH were combined in 1930, the barely 24-year-old Leitz III was appointed managing director, along with the "imported" Swiss grendnephew Dr. Henri Dumur. Ernst Leitz III stayed as CEO till 1974 and then retired to be Vice Chairman of Ernst Leitz GmbH for another four years. He was a founding member of the Christian democratic and liberal-conservative political party CDU in Wetzlar in 1948 and was on the city council for a long time.

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Timeline

The Ernst Leitz Optical Industry factory buildings ca 1940 in Wetzlar, Germany. They were called the Leitz High-Rise Buildings I and II and was finsihed in 1935 and 1938, designed by Wetzlar architect Jean Emil Schmidt (who also designed both the 1907 facotory building and Ernst Leitz I's private villa up the hill at Laufdorfer Weg 6 in Wetzlar ... which Ernst's artistic sister Ella Bocks also had a hand in designing). Today the street has been named Ernst Leitz Strasse, the buildings painted white and are the home of Leica Microsystems GmbH.
Leica Camera AG was re-located in Solms a few kilometers from Wetzlar in 1988 (but returned in 2014 to a new building outside Wetzlar). Many Leica Camera AG employees will claim they grew up in Wetzlar with a view to the red Leica logo that was later added (and still exists) on the rooftop of the building to the right.Next to the building is the Leitz Museum which one can go visit to see their large collection of Leitz products.
(There is also a private Leitz Collection and Optical Museum in Bedford, Pennsylvania, USA)

1849Optical Institute was established by Carl Kellner (1826-1855).

1863
Ernst Leitz I Senoir joined the Optical Institute.

1865
Ernst Leitz I Senior became a full partner of the Optical Institute.

1869 Ernst Leitz I Senior [1843-1920] takes over the company and rename it Ernst Leitz Optical Industry.

1907Leitz had sold 100,000 microscopes, making the firm easily the biggest producer worldwide. They now began manufacturing of binoculars as well.

1913
The first two prototypes of first experimental models, the 'UR-LEICA" were completed. Barnack experimented with different lenses for the Leica, with the intention to make a camera that would offer sharpness of details above the limit of what the human eye can normally percieve.
He worked with a Zeiss Movie Tessar 50mm f/3.5, then a Leitz Micro Summar 60mm f/4.5. World War I (1914-1918) brought a still-stand to the development, but soon after the end of the war he was back at it and the first Leica lens, the Leica Elmar 50mm f/3.5 was created by Dr. M Barek as the standard lens for the Leica.

The film format, 24x36mm was chosen because it was twice the size of the movie format 24x18mm. The Leica was developed as a 50mm lens project, and for that a 22x33mm negative was determined to be "large enough". But as the movie format offered existing film format with fine gain, suitable for projection/enlargment, that format was chosen, and thus the 24x36mm format, which is also 2:3 raitio.

Oskar Barnack in the office.

A prototype of the Leica as a microscope camera ca. 1918.

1914
Ernst Leica II takes patent on the Leica when visiting New York with the Ur-Leica.

1920
Ernst Leitz II Junior takes over the company after his fathers dead.

1925
The debut of the Leica Model A (or Leica I) at the Leipzig Spring Fair. The first cameras had Berek's 50mm Elmax lens in a non interchangeable mount. The Elmax name is purportedly named after Berek's dog, Max. (Later, the 50mm Hektor lens was introduced and again is supposed to be named after another of his dogs). Leica sold 1,000 cameras the first year (and had actually manufatured 800 by the day it was presented).

From the very beginning of the Leica, the cameras came with a warranty card that the camera could be upgraded to the latest Leica version. This of course was a great way to make customers trust that their investment in a Leica was for life. The irony of it - seen with what we know today - of course is that those who had their very first Leica camera upgraded in the 1930's, unknowingly ldestroyed their grankids possibility to sell that very first Leica on auction for some millons.

A Leica was $88 retail price in the US in 1928 (equivalent to $1,129 in 2014).

1931Curt Emmermann founded and wrote the first pioneering Leica magazine, "Die Leica" from 1931-1942 that was the forerunner of Leica Fotografie International that today is known as LFI.

"Die Leica" by Curt Emmermann. Legendary German magazine, 1931-1942. The above is a reprinted editon in 4 volumes from 1981.

1932The Leica D (Leica II) was introduced. Here's an drawing being made by artist Hasan Azim of a Leica II

A 1937-ad in the publication "Deutschland in Paris" (Germany in Paris)

1932
As a measure of the dominance of firstly Leica and secondly, the 35 mm film format, the Soviet government commence production of exact copies of the Leica II at theFED Commune, the first being produced in October 1932, six months after the release of the original Leica II.

1933
At this time, photographer Anton F. Baumann did Leica slideshows around Germany showing his own photos made with the Leica, and Leica could actually see how their sale raised whereever he went. He also wrote the book in 1938, "The Leica Book in Color". When he emigrated to the US, the Leica employee Walther Benser took over this highly succesful enterprise and expanded it to many other locations around Europe and the US in the following years. This was before television, so thousand people or more would attend a live slideshow where Walther Benser showed slides for two hours and told about how to use the camera. For example in Italy he did a two month tour with 30 shows, as he writes about in his book, "My Life With the Leica" (1990).

1933
Leica III in announced with slow speeds on frontal dial. Also Leica 250 Reporter was announced (a Leica III with a 250-image magazines; 10 metres of film).
A very rare and expensive collectors item today. Some have been restored with original parts by Ottmar Michaely in Wetzlar who is an independent 3rd party repair facility who took over many of the original tools and parts from Leitz in the 1980's.

1935
The Leica camera is now the most profitable department of the Leitz company. Leica G (Leica IIIa) was announced with 1/1000 shutter speed added.

1937
Leica-photographer Anton F. Baumann’s book "Das Farbige Leica Buch" was published by Knorr & Hirth in Munchen in 1937, the first book with colour plates engraved directly from 35mm transparencies. It was translated to English and published in 1938 as "The Leica Book in Color".

1938
Leica IIIb was announced with rangefinder and view windows closer together.

1940
Leica IIIc was announced with die-cast body, slightly longer and with redesigned shutter featuring ball bearings. Also a Leica IIId was announced (which is very rare; only 427 were made).

"No Leica or Contax must remain idle": An advertisement from Leica dealer Wallace Heaton in New Bond Street, during WWII requesting Leica and Contact cameras to be released for war service.

The Tel Aviv Leica Store in 1942. The woman in front of the store is Rachel Levy who is wearing the ATS uniform (women's branch of the British Army during the World War II and later merged into the Women's Royal Army Corps).

1946
Leica no 400,000 was made.

1947
The winter 1946-1947 stopped all production of Leica cameras in Wetzlar for two months. This was the Leica was under administration of Joint US/UKExport-Import Agency after World War II, so not only the weather was a limit.

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Leica made in Leicester - The "Reid" camera

From 1947 - 1964 copies of Leica were made in the UK. At the end of World War II, the Allies had confiscated German patents and made them available to the general public. The company who produced the camera was Reid and Sigrist Ltd., a manufacturer of aircraft parts , based in Leicester. The Reid was announced in May 1947, but was not really available until 1951 (see, they learned that from Leica, too!). Production lasted until 1964 when spare parts was sold to A.W. Young Ltd and Reid and Sigrist Ltd returned to their usual business.

The Reid III, which was a copy of the Leica III series, was made in up to 1,600 copies. The second camera made wa a copy of the Leica E, in somewhat 500 copies. The only lens to be sold with the Reid was the 2" f/2 Taylor - Hobson Anastigmat, in collapsible barrel. Read the story at www.pacificrimcamera.com

The Reid camera was made in the UK from 1947 - 1964. Models are still around, selling for $2,000 - $3,000 on eBay.

1948
Leica IIc was announced. Also the Leica 250 DD was announced, a reporter camera that could be loaded with 250 frames (10 metres of film).

The Leica M bayonet is designed by Hugo Wehrenpfennig and patentet.

The "Leica Photography" magazine was reissued after the war in spring 1948. Later what became LFI.

1949
Leica establishes the Leitz Glass Research Laboratory that existed till 1989. Amongst the things they worked with and developed was LaK 9 glass. The Leitz Glass Laboratory developed 35 new glasses from 50,000 experimental melts, making Noctilux, Summilux and other lenses possible.

1950Leica IIIf was announced. Featured in-camera user selectable flash synchronization. A self-timer was offered as a factory installed option in 1954 which made many send in their Leica IIIf for this feature.

1952
Leica IIf was announced. Similar to the IIIf model released two years earlier, but without the slow speed dial.

1954
The Leica M3 with the Leica M Bayonet is introduced to the market (model code IGEMO). This was an entire new idea - fast changing of lenses. Since then, all Leica M cameras have been able to use Leica M bayonet mount as well as any previous screw mount lenses (you buy a small adapter from screw to M mount and it works the same way on a camera with M bayonet camera).

Dr. Ludwig Leitz II was a sculptorer and the designer of the rangefinder in the Leica M3. He was also co-owner of the company from 1956-1974.

Leica in France

Immediately after the war it became apparent to Ernst Leitz II that it would take the German industry several years to be able to produce enough goods to start exporting again. On the other hand, the majority of the German population was hardly in a position to buy Leica cameras.

The Leitz factory in Wetzlar, West Germany had suffered only minor damage, but there was still a shortage of certain raw materials, so that the resumption of the production of civilian products was progressing rather slowly. The frightening thought that the Soviets could be at their doorsteps within hours of a new conflagration caused the company patriarch Ernst Leitz II and his sons Ernst Leitz III (1906-1979), Dr. Ludwig Leitz II (1907-1992) and Günther Leitz (1914-1969) to realize the desirability of a safer location for the company, a second repository for its archives and for a core of experienced workers who could carry on the firm's tradition of superb craftmanship in the he event of the loss of the main plant.

The Leitz family had to look for a solution. It appeared to have come when Mr. Walter Kluck joined the Ernst Leitz Co.

Walter Kluck

Before Walter Kluck started to work for Leitz, he had considered opening a manufacturing plant in France, together with a friend. When presenting this idea to the Leitz family, it was generally agreed upon that manufacturing Leicas in France would open the export market a lot sooner.

The decision was made to start the operation in the Saar territory which was under French occupation at that time. A lot of regulations had to be overcome, however, and in order to speed things up, some of the machinery necessary was taken out of Wetzlar by night and transported to the new location. So it was by some dubious means that this new venture got its start.

Initially Leitz coated only lenses of prewar production and later even manufactured complete lenses and mechanical parts for the Bolex motion picture cameras. Finally even cameras were made. They had the famous “Monte en Saare” engravings, cameras with a considerable collector's value today.

Leica IIIa "Monte en Saare" Nr. 359402, a French made Leica

Leica in Canada

Things in Europe didn't look too good, however. The cold war began to heighten and the Leitz family started to make plans to avoid losing the entire operation once again to war. The had lost the large market in Russia after World War I. The solution seemed to be an entirely different region. Suggestions like North Africa, South America, Spain and Ireland came up, but eventually someone mentioned North America, particularly Canada.

An exploratory team consisting of Dr. Ernst Leitz III and an administrative assistant, Karl Seng (who spoke flawless British English), traveled extensively for many weeks in search of an appropriate location. Midland, a 90 minutes drive from Toronto, had just experienced that their shipyard had closed, so they were eager to accomodate a new factory that could employ their citizens.

1952: The manufacturing plant in Midland, Ontario, Canada

After a lot of considerations, Canada was finally chosen as the most logical place. After all, North America was the largest export market (as it is also today where ca. 75% of Leica products are sold).

Ernst Leitz Canada (ELCAN)

Another reason for going to Canada instead of the US at the time was that the name Leitz was still under alien property control in the US and Leitz would not have been able to use their own name in this country. It was also the case that the American immigration laws at the time were rather tight and it would have taken too long to get entry permission for the number of people necessary to start such a venture. Thus Canada was the best choice!

But other obstacles had to be overcome. One was that Leitz needed permission from the German government because something like this had never been done before. Leitz was actually the first company to take such a step. It was also necessary to establish a program that would allow some quick sales right at the beginning because at the time Leitz was allowed to bring only $50,000 into the country and they had to make sure that they would not run out of money before new revenues started to come in.

Unfortunately, the new facilities were not quite ready for operation when the “Leica people” arrived. To avoid losing precious time, an assembly facility was temporarily set up in the Midland Ice Arena! Under the leadership of Walter Kluck, the first lens components were finished after only one week and the first completed Leica lenses and cameras were ready after only four weeks.

Soon after moving into the new facilities they started not only to assemble but to actually manufacture parts as well. After only three years of operation the Midland design department was established. Initially it dealt only with mechanical designs, but after borrowing an optical designer from Wetzlar, optical design was also taken up. This designer had a very good reputation and it was planned to “loan” him to Midland for only six months. He never made it back to Wetzlar and his skills were primarily responsible for establishing Midland as one of the foremost lens design departments in the entire world.

The gentleman's name was Professor Walter Mandler. His crowning achievement was the design of the 50mm f/1.0 Noctilux. The design department became so successful that at the time most of the Leica lenses were designed in Midland rather than in Wetzlar.

Otto Geier, supervisor of the Optics Department of Ernst Leitz Canada (on the right), with the legendary lens designer Dr. Walter Mandler. Most of the Leica lenses were designed in Midland rather than in Wetzlar.

During the company’s growth period, the key responsibilities were shared by three Walters: Walter Bauer for Manufacturing, Walter Kluck for Marketing and Walter Mandler for Research and Development.

Besides the Leica program, Ernst Leitz Canada (ELC) became involved with the production of optical equipment for other companies, such as Hughes Aircraft, RCS and Picker X-ray. All told, there were about 100 companies that did business with Leitz. Besides the civilian market, Ernst Leitz Canada was also heavily involved in manufacturing for the US Defense Department, primarily the US army but also the Navy. The research done for those branches has greatly helped the development of civilian products as well. This is because the requirements of the armed forces are always pushing towards the limits of optical design capabilities, resulting often in the best possible instruments to be developed. One such cast-off to the civilian market was the 180mm f/3.4 APO Telyt-R.

One of the most unusual military developments was an underwater camera system which Leitz developed for the US Navy. It primarily consisted of a complete set of lenses for underwater work, not only for 35mm cameras but also for medium format, 16mm motion picture and TV cameras. These were rather unique lenses because they were not part of a camera that was simply put into a water tight housing. Instead the lenses were designed to be exposed to the water with their front element. The usual way of using under water housings for conventional cameras incorporates lenses that are designed to work in air. When designing such lenses, Leitz even takes the refractive index of air into consideration.

The Leitz under water system instead was designed according to the refractive index of water. As a matter of fact, since this system was to be used primarily in salt water, it was the refractive index of salt water that was used in the design of these lenses. However, not all oceans have the same salinity. So Leitz went one step further and took the refractive index of the salinity of the various oceans into consideration.

Leica UW serial 240-0044. Sold for 72,000 Euro on November 24, 2012.

This was possible with an interchangeable front element of their water contact lenses. This overall design actually considers the water as an integral lens element of the entire system. To avoid the need to test these lenses in the various oceans all over the world, Leitz built a large water tank that could be flooded with water of the appropriate salinity.

The correction of these lenses is so good that, when water is clear enough, there is no way of telling that the pictures were taken under water. Leitz was the first company to suggest such a design.

What is even more amazing is the fact that the thick water contact front element is so strong that the lenses can be used in the greatest ocean depths without any problems at all, including the deepest part on earth; the 36,200 feet deep Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench.

Ernst Leitz Canada ELCAN underwater mition picture camera housing

Despite the many exotic projects for the US Army, Elmar also produced quite a lot of civilian and ordinary lenses. One can get an ide by simply searching "ELCAN" on eBay and one will see lenses for Olympus Pen, Canon and many other uses.

Camera Production in Midland

In the middle of the 70s Ernst Leitz Canada decided to look into the manufacture of cameras as well. Until then the whole operation had been dependent on selling their wares to others. They had been compared to a tire company supplying tires to car manufacturers. Ernst Leitz Canada's success was entirely dependent upon the successes of the companies they supplied.

It was decided that the manufacture of cameras would add a great new dimension to the Canadian Leitz operation. After Wetzlar had given its blessing and given 100% support to this venture, all the tooling for the M4 cameras was moved to Midland and a great number of specialists from Wetzlar helped to get this venture off the ground.

The first camera of this new venture was the Leica M4-2 in 1978. Basically identical to the old M4, it was modified to accept a motor winder which greatly enhanced the versatility of the camera. Soon additional development of this camera resulted in the Leica M4-P in 1981 with the added versatility of a 28mm and 75mm viewing frame and a motor winder capable of running continuously at the rate of three frames per second.

One little known fact is that in 1970 Ernst Leitz Canada was awarded the design and manufacturing contract for the new 70mm IMAX projection system and in 1983 Ernst Leitz Canada began work with Panavision for their state of the art cinematographic lenses. Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" from 1987 is one of the movies that was made with Panavision Primo-L Lenses from ELCAN (and was Oscar-nominated for Best Cinematography). These are just two examples of the many designs and manufacture they did for outside companies, both for civilian and military use. Read more about Leica and Cine lenses in my article "The Leica Summilux-C and Leica Summicron-C Movie Primes"

Steven Spielberg on the set of Empire of the Sun in 1986 where they used, amongst others, a 800mm Panavision Primo-L lens from ELCAN.

Thus Midland had developed into a fully independent camera and lens manufacturer by the end of the 70s. Their name Ernst Leitz Canada and their trade mark ELCAN have earned the highest reputation throughout the world and it was only a matter of time until additional new and exciting developments from this branch of Leitz would make the news.

Midland, Canada, a replicat of Wetzlar

When Leitz decided to build the manufacturing plant in Midland there was no doubt that it should operate and manufacture at the same high standards that the world had grown accustomed to with the products from Wetzlar. Thus it came as no surprise to me on my first visit to Midland that the interior was very much like that in Wetzlar. Although the buildings were not anywhere near as large as the main plant in Wetzlar, the interior of the actual work areas was almost identical.

Ernst Leitz Canada assembly line

Quality control was as tight as in Wetzlar. Everywhere, regardless of what work was being performed, there were people doing checks and rechecks. Virtually all workbenches had some sort of testing instrument on them. The whole place had a rather unhurried atmosphere. The workers were under no time pressure at all. Everyone could take the time necessary to do things right. This was further enhanced by the total absence of assembly lines. All work was done on individual workbenches.

The same was the case in the lens grinding department. A lot of the work was performed by machines, but some lens elements would be grinded by hand. It is a known fact that nothing can replace hand grinding when ultimate precision is of the essence, and Leitz was still doing it.

While there were obviously a lot of people from the Midland area employed there. It was very obvious that there still was a large German contingent, easily recognized by the many German accents that could be heard in almost all conversations.

1982 marked the 30th anniversary of the Midland operation. It had established itself as one of the foremost optical design companies in the world.

November 1990: The Hughes Aircraft Company, California, purchased Ernst Leitz Canada Ltd., and the Company’s name was changed to Hughes Leitz Optical Technologies Ltd. Hughes Aircraft relocated their equipment/machinery and technology of a sister operation in Des Plaines, Illinois, to Midland.

Long story short, the company Raytheon acquired the optical departments of Texas Instruments and the Midland factory, and is today named RaytheonELCAN.

The original Leica building in the center of Wetzlar, Germany anno 2013, now housing only Leica Microsystems.

The Crown Building

E. Leitz, INC in New York

During the war E. Leitz, INC, the American arm of Leitz, had home on 730 5th Avenue in New York, what is now known as The Crown Building (built 1921 as Heckscher Building). There were production going on in USA during World War II and some products were engraved E. Leitz, INC New York.

A man looking at the 560mm telephoto lens on exhibit at Photokina Fair in 1966. (Photo by Walter Sanders/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images). They also made a 800mm lens.

1956
The sons of Ernst Leitz II; Ernst Leitz III, Ludwig Leitz and Günther Leitz, take over the management of the firm after their father's death.

Dr. Knut Kühn-Leitz (born 1936, grandson of Ernst Leitz II and son of Elsie Kühn-Leitz) joined Leica as executive assistant to Ernst Leitz III. He was instrumental in the cooporation with Minolta Camera Company and the establishment of the succesfull production in Portugal and remained in the company (appointed managing director from 1971) till the Leitz family sold their shares. He lives in Wetzlar where he takes care of the Haus Friedwart and have written several books about the Leitz Family. The most recent, Ernst Leitz II: "Ich entscheide hiermit: Es wird riskiert" (May 2014).

1969
Leica supplied a Trinovid 10 X 40 especially modified monocular for the NASA Apollo 11 which became the first optical device used on the moon.

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1970
Leica introduces the 800mm Telechronf/6.3 lens at Photokina, made available in 1972 as 800mm Telyt-S f/6.3 in time for the Olympics in Munich. The lens was sold in the US with a complimentary Volkswagen Fox with it! (at least, that is the rumor. The truth was it was if you had one specific serial number (2500854), you would "win" the Volkswagen). The retail price for the lens in the US was $23,700 in 1972. Today it sells for around $8,000 on eBay.

A Leica ad from the 1940s talking about autofocus. In all justice it should be said that Leica Camera AG in fact invented AF in the 1970's but decided nobody would want it - and sold the patent.

Leica and auto focus

Prototype of the Leica auto focus system.

Leica Camera AG invented the auto focus system in the 1960's and patented a number of autofocus technologies 1960 - 1973, but judged that nobody would be interested in it. They sold the patent to Minolta after two "unsuccesful" presentations at Photokina in 1976 and 1978 and stayed with manual focused lenses.

The Leica auto focus system "Correfot"

Advertisement for the Leica M4 introduced in 1966. One of the best-selling Leica M cameras (along Leica M6 and Leica M9).

Wild Beerbrugg and Leitz Wetzlar coorporation

1972
Beginning of cooperation between Leitz Wetzlar and Wild Heerbrugg, a company founded in 1921 in Switzerland manufacturing different optical instruments, such as surveying instruments, microscopes and instruments for photogrammetry among others. Wild bought 25% of Leitz to begin with.

Leica in Porto, Portugal

1973
The Portugal plant in Vila Nova de Famalico near Porto starts production. The reason Leica started production here was they had the opportunity to buy a precision watch factory that had gone bankrupt. By buying this factory they acquired not only a factory and precision tools, but also a workforce (of mainly women) who knew how to do precision work. See further down about the 40th anniversary and new factory in Portugal that opened in 2013.

CEO Dr. Werner Simon with Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1988, presenting him with a Leica M6.

1984
The Leica M6 was released with internal lightmeter, and later the Leica M6 TTL with lightmetering Through The Lens. Dr. Werner Simon was the chairman of the photographic division of Leitz in 1984, and he was one who strongly pushed for the Leica M6, believed the real revolution of the unit, as he was convinced that with a modern light meter, it would make a bold statement in the market for Leica. He served as Leica CEO from 1987- 1993.

1986
Foundation of Leica GmbH in order to bundle activities in the photo market.

Wild Leitz, 1987

1987
On the January 1st, 1987, Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH and Wild Heerbrugg AG merges to form the Wild Leitz group. The new companyemploys a total 9,000 people.

1988
The Leica Camera AG factory moves from Wetzlar to Oskar Barnackstrasse in Solms, just 10-15 minutes drive from Wetzlar. The factory remained here till it moved back to the newly designed and build factory in Wetzlar in April 2014.

1990
The merger of Wild Leitz Holding AG with The Cambridge Instrument Company plc creates the new Leica Holding B.V. group. So now the Leica name also stands for the leading manufacturer of microscopes, surveying and photogrammetry systems, as well as optical-scientific instruments. Incorporation of the Zett-Geräte-Werk (former Zeiss-Ikon) into the Leica Camera Group and foundation of Leica Projektion GmbH.

The LEICA name and the red dot logo (both Leitz and Leica) is owned by LEICA MICROSYSTEMS IR GMBH who allow Leica Camera AG to use it.

Leica Camera AG later was listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange (and Dr. Andreas Kaufmann started buying shares in 2003 and ended up owning 96% or more fo the shares (via ACM Projektentwicklung GmbH in Salzburg, Austria), after which Leica Camera AG was unlisted from the Stock Exchange (so that they don't have to report to the stock exchange).Leica Geosystems AG is a Swiss company and part of the Swedish Hexagon Group.Leica Microsystems GmbH is a German company owned by the US concern Danaher Corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The use of the Leica brand is the only remaining connection between the three companies, on account of the long history and heritage of these now independent companies. Leica Microsystems is the owner of the Leica trade name and trademark and has granted licenses for their use by the other companies.

1995
Matsushita (Panasonic) started making all their cameras with Leica lenses (all lenses made in Germany but assembled in Japan). From 2006 and onwards Leica lenses are made in Japan to Leica specifications by Panasonic with 2 main differences: Lenses made for the Leica branded camera's are made on German made imported machines using Leica lens coatings, whereas Leica lenses made for Panasonic Lumix branded camera's are made on Panasonic mass production machines to (minimum) Leica specification but use Panasonic's own Nano-coatings.

1996
On April 1st, Leica takes over the camera division of Minox GmbH, manufacturer of sub-miniature and miniature cameras.

On July 25th, 1996 the Leica Camera GmbH is transformed into a public company. Now the company is called Leica Camera AG.

2001
Leica Camera AG started coorporation with Panasonic (Matsushita), developing lens designs for Panasonic Lumix cameras, Panasonic cameras and Panasonic video recorders, as well as some of the Panasonic projectors (only those with the "Leica" are made by Leica). The coorporation also includes co-production of later Panasonic/Leica "twin cameras" sauch as the Leica Digilux, Leica D-Lux, Leica V-Lux. Some developed and produced by Panasonic, with a Leica edition designed by Leica, others developed by Leica and produced by Panasonic (the Leica Digilux 2 is one such).

The Ernst Leitz Optical Industry factory on Ernst Leitz Strasse in Wetzlar. Year unknown, but the cars could indicate in was the 1970s. c

2002
Andreas Kaufmann and his two brothers buys Weller Feinwerktechnik in Wetzlar via ACM Projektentwicklung in Salzburg, the family holding company. In 1994, Uwe Weller took over Leica Camera AG’s machining division, which became the Weller Feinwerktechnik. (In 2005, the mechatronics division of Leica Microsystems in Weilburg was integrated into the business, followed in 2006 by the machining division of the Zeiss-Hensoldt Group in Wetzlar).

2003
Andreas Kaufmann and his two brothers buys Via Optik in in Wetzlar
as a part of the strategic investment of the Kaufmann family in Wetzlar’s optical industry. Via Optik was founded in 1922 as Feinwerktechnik Wetzlar GmbH, as part of the Ernst Leitz GmbH as a supplier of mechanical components. In 1965 they made the bright viewfinders for SLR cameras.

2004
Andreas Kaufmann and his two brothers buy 27.4% of Leica Camera AG via ACM Projektentwicklung in Salzburg. They already know the Leica people quite well as they already have bought one company from Leica Camera AG (Via Optik) and are subsupplier via anohter (Weller Feinwerktechnik).

2006

Leica Camera AG announces a series of new digital cameras at Photokina in September 2006. Amongst them, the long aviated Leica M8 digital camera:

Announced in 2006: Leica M8 in chrome. Also available in black.

Leica M8 takes the role as preferred rangefinder camera for professionals
The Leica M8 digital camera had a few problems in the beginning that required Leica Camera AG to issue free filters to their customers. Without IR cut-filters black tones in certain light conditions would turn purple: The UV-filter in front of the sensor was simply too weak. A feature that later turned out to make the Leica M8 perfect for infrared photography. Amongst others, Lou Reed had much fun using the Leica M8 for infrared photography.

After months of discussions and frustrations, one could read comments like these from professional photographers on the Leica User Forum (July 2007):

"I have to confess I haven't used my Canon 5D since getting an M8. But then again the same thing happened to my film SLRs when I bought my first M - an M2 - a number of years ago, so I haven't been surprised.

"I still use my Canon 5D along with my Leica M8, but I use my Canon Mark II's and a large selection of lenses (from 8mm - 500mm). When you are a working photo-journlist, the Leica M8 becomes just another tool in the bag. Yes, I must say that the Leica M8 bag (a Domke F-6 Little Bit Samller Bag) now goes on every assignment (even If I do not get a chance to use it)"

"I sold the Canon 5D when I got the M8, but I still use the Canon MK II Ds"

"It depends completely on the type of assignment. If I need longer f/2.8 zooms, as when doing theater work or sports, I'll still use the 5D. But for any kind of portrait, documentary and editorial work I almost always opt for the M8. The 5D is an excellent camera, but I prefer the look of the M8 images. I also find the somewhat smaller file size a bit more manageable when I come in with several hundred RAWs."

"well ... I've been using the Leica M8 for like a month and a half. now. as much as i wasn't totally impressed the first time 'round ... I have perhaps changed my feelings about it ... and ... as much as i want to fight it ... give me an m8 ..."

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2007

CW Sonderoptik is established in Wetzlar by Andreas Kaufmann to develop Summilux-C Cine Lenses.

2008

At Photokina 2008 Leica introduced the updated Leica M8 called Leica M8.2. Apart from the new darker black lacquer, leather-like "vulcanite" leather finish and - more notable - the black Leica dot (on the silver edition of the camera the red dot has been maintained; and one could actually also order the black camera version witht the 'original' red dot), the changes was mainly to be found in the details exterior and inside:

A new metal blade focal plane shutter that reducedthe shutter sound to nearly a whisper, a new scratch-resistant sapphire crystal as cover glass for the screen on the back of the camera, a "S" snapshot mode (where the camera decides everything but aperture and focus) as well as a new compact charger.

Also two other impressive lenses were introduced in the Leica 21mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 (pictured on the Leica M8.2 camera above) and the Leica 24mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4. Leica also introduced a new compact Leica 24mm Elmar-M ASPH f/3.8 lens for the M cameras.

Leica plan to start delivery of the Leica S2medium format digital SLR camera as well as the first four lenses from November 2010 (with another five to follow shortly).

2009

Stopping production of new R lenses
In February 2009 Leica announced that they would stop the production of the traditional R-lenses as well as the Leica R9 film camera. Remaining stocks were sold with 25-50% discounts.

Leica stopped developing the R10 camera
In July 2009 Leica Camera AG announced that they would not develop a Leica R10 fullframe digital SLR camera based on the Leica S2, with new auto focus R-lenses, as promised. They were of the opinion that the promised camera would turn out to be so expensive that there would be no market for it. Though they would at a later stage present "a digital solution" suitable for R-lenes.
Meanwhile, it ain't over till it's over! there is many great second-hand Leica R lenses, and these can actually be used on Canon dSLR cameras (such as the Canon 5D Mark II or Canon 1ds Mark III) using for example the Novoflex Leica R to Canon adapter. It's still manual focus lenses, but with focus confirmation in the Canon camera. Another possiblity is to have the Leica R lenese refitted with Nikon bayonets by the company Leitax (thogh that will make the lenses unusable on Leica R cameras).

On february 20, 2009 Leica introduced the Leica 18mm/3.8 lens, an accompanying 18mm viewfinder and a new Leica 58 flash for all Leica cameras - (the flash will fit the Leica S2 as well).

Introducing a collection of ground-breaking new products- and viral marketing at its bestOn September 9, 2009 at 9:09 AM Leica announced that they would present what Leica Camera AG CEO Rudi Spiller called "a collection of new groundbreaking products."

As soon as the video below came out on August 31, 2009, speculations went like a wildfire, and within hours it was reported that the long awaited/rumored Leica M9 was actually shown in the video as a teaser. And if you watch the video at 0:54 you will notice an ISO button on the camera back that is not on the Leica M8 or Leica M8.2. Few seconds later in the video, at 0:58 you will notice that the top plate of the camera is missing the picture counter and that the round left side of the body has been lowered.

In matter of hours from then people from all walks of life had used their personal knowledge to try to 'reverse-ingeneer' the actual M9 from the two small glimpses in the video. Did it in have the same size or would we be presented for a new "German Tank" a la the slightly bigger Leica M5 (that looked like a monster because Leica had to incorporate lightmeter technology into the camrea)? Would it even be technically posible to maintain the size of a "classic Leica M" and still achieve a full frame sensor? One Leica user had used special software to figure out the sizes of the new M9 based on the size of the flash shoe (and had it almost right).

The teaser video on YouTube revealing first sights of the new Leica M9 - Leica's return to full frame 24x36 mm which they originally invented in 1908.

A few days later, on September 2, 2009, this prewiev of the Leica M9 digital rangefinder camera and a (totally unexpected model, the) Leica X1 appeared on Flickr by a user in Vietnam (where the Leica X1 was made). And was removed within two hours from posting when only 250 people had viewed it! If it was the user himself or if Leica had something to say on this, nobody knows. But it fueled the speculations further.

First sight of the Leica M9 via Flickr. Fact og fiction? Could be pretty close to reality per the glimpses in the video above and the specifications revealed 'by accident' on the Japanese Leica site later in the day (see below).

Leica X1 fist sight via Flickr. Fact og ficion? It looked like a cool idea, a digital version of the original Ur-Leica and the Minilux with its legendary 40mm f/2.4 lens. This one has a 24mm Elmarit f/2.8 fixed lens (which becomes a 35mm lens due to the smaller sensor). But nobody had ever heard that Leica worked on such a camera ... could it be just a computer-made design?Would it have interchangable lenses and thus perhaps be a remake of the Leica CL that was the compact smaller camera that took M lenses in the 1970ies? Nobody knew, nobody had expected Leica to come up with a new camera like this!

Later the same day, a Leica user was able to find an official M9 presentation on the Leica-Camera Japan website. This had been there long enough for translations to have been saved in web hisgtory, though the site itself was removed and the webmaster had set up an active filter to prevent any serarch engine to remember what was there.

But before it disappeared in smoke, the Japanese Leica website revealed a Leica M9 full frame 24x36mm 18 MP camera available in black paint and painted grey. No need for IR/UV filters anymore. The body measures 139 x 37 x 80 mm. A 2,5" monitor on the back, revised button layout (with an ISO button on the back).

Could this really be true? Leica had so far stated that a full frame sensor would be impossible on a Leica M, and who had ever heard about a painted grey Leica M ?

Classic Leica ad from 1951, before viral marketing ...

Repeat after me: Leica is Great!

Leica M9 is confirmed on September 9, 2009 at 9:09 AM in New York

In 2008 Leica Camera AG had officially said (once again) that a full frame Leica M was impossible. In July 2009 - two months before the introduction - the head of product development, Stefan Daniel (see below) had revealed that Leica Camera AG was in fact working on a solution, but that it would take considerable time.

As it turns out, Leica was not only able to present the Leica M9 with full frame sensor on September 9, 2009 at 9:09 in New York, they had also had a number of photographers beta-testing the Leica M9 since July 2009. The presentation also revealed a final production sample of the new Leica S2 medium format camera and a Leica X1 with APS-sized CMOS sensor.

The Leica M9 in metal-grey paint with a black Leica 50mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 lens on. You can read my Leica M9 article with test photos, tips and tricks here. An article that has since then beome known as "The Worlds (Possibly) Longest Camera Review" with more than 18 pages with four years of continious user-reporting based on photographing more than 160,000 images.

2010

The results for first half of 2010 showed a 139.6 % increase in sale of Leica cameras, and an overall 100% increase on all Leica Camera AG products from the Leica CRF 1600 laser rangefinder (used to measure distances) to Leica binoculars. The 140% increase in sale should be viewed with the general 10% increase in sale of cameras worldwide (130 million cameras in 2009 to 140 million in 2010)
The main reasons for the increase given in the Half year financial report from Leica are the newly developed cameras Leica M9, Leica X1, Leica S2 and the V-Lux 20. Even the bulk of product development of the M9 and S2 was in 2009 and prior, Leica has almost doubled the amount spent on product development in first half of 2010.
Operating result (EBIT) improved from € –7.2 million first half of 2009 to € 13.9 million for first half of 2010.

The new Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 saw the light. An improved design without focus shifts and able to (that is my opinion from the ones I have tested) produce Leica M9 files as sharp and detailed as a Leica S2 file. The balance, the feel and size of the new Leica Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 simply feels right on the Leica M9 body.

In August 2010 Leica Camera AG announced their new CEO, Alfred Schopf (he comes from ARRI who works with the film industry).

Alfred Schopf, new Leica CEO as of September 2010. Photo: Thorsten Overgaard

At a Design Preview event at Photokina 2010 on September 20, 2010, Leica presented a Leica X1 in black, a Leica V-Lux 2 (as follow-up to the Leica V-Lux 1) and a Leica D-Lux 5 (as a follow-up to the Leica D-Lux 4). Most notable - or newsworthy at least - was the release of a 500 pcs limited Leica M9 in solid titanium with 35mm Summilux-M f/1.4 ASPH FLE titanium lens (see image by David Farkas here) designed by Italian car designer Walter de'Silva who earned fame for his Alfa Romeo 156 design and these days work for Audi and VW where he has designed Audi A5 and VW OPassat CC and the VW Scirocco.

This special edition Leica M9 titanium is the first limited edition that features technical advancements as well beyond the usual special edition colors and leather: The frame lines are mechanical, but red LED illuminated. The hand-grip on the camera is also a completely new thing never seen before, and the titanium lens shade is also a completely new design. Price of the package is 22,000 Euro including a story book. Read more under "Sexy stuff for the worlds most sexy camera"

Leica M9 Titanium with Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 FLE limited edition of 500 set, designed by by-Walter de'Silva. All 500 sets were pre-reserved withing a week of the release, all planned for shipping in December 2010.

At the Leica M9 Titanium event Leica Camera AG also honored the inventor of the digital camera, Steve Sasson by giving him the 4th million Leica camera produced. Sasson invented the first portable digital camera in 1976 while working at Kodak (luckily for Sasson the 4th million Leica Camera turned out to be a Leica M9 titanium and not a Leica D-Lux 4!)

The most intersting new thing at Photokina may have been the release of the Leica 120mm Elmarit-S Macro f/2.5 for the Leica S2. This is the lens needed for fashion photographers and many others to draw use of the Leica S2 medium format camera. With this lens sale of the Leica S2 will pick up serious speed - though the actual awaited 120mm with central shutter will not start delivery till spring 2011 (with a completely new Leica-designed central shutter that was tested in pre-production samples at Photokina, in the Leica S2 studio).

Small news: For those who like to watch the real stars, Photokina 2010 also offered a new Leica X1 digiscoping adapter (model 42331) so that the Leica X1 can be attached to a Leica digiscope. Photo: Thorsten Overgaard.

Speaking of which, in August 2010 Leica Camera AG came out with their financial report, displaying a profit of 9 million Euro for first quarter, compared to a minus og 6 million Euro for the previous first Quarter.

And while all this happens, customers are still in the line for Leica M9 cameras and a number of exotic lenses which are also on waiting lists due to demand (21mm, 24mm, 35mm and 50mm Summilux lenses, 50mm Noctilux and 75mm Summicron mainly).

The main facility is in the soon to be "old" factory in Solms (which has been expanded with a few extra wooden buildings and also feature a new reception area with a new Leica Solms flagship store).

Customer Service is in a seperate building in Solms, a few minutes away by car, and features a nice waiting area for cutomers coming by with their equipment for service and adjustment.

If you camera needs a doctor, visit Leica Camera AG Customer Service in Solms. See more on page 2.

Leica Camera AG also features a Leica Academy school in an old monastry in the hills outside Solms.

In case you din't get the memo, Leica Camera AG officially said at Photokina 2010 that the Leica M9 is now subject to the Leica M a la carte program, which means that one can get special leather, special engravings, sapphire glass on the screen and similar special to order.

2011

Leica Camera AG, and Dr. Andres Kaufmann in particular, have made no secret that there till be more Leica Flagship Stores (on top of the 14 existing as of January 2011). In March 2011 Leica Camera AG opened Leica Store no 15 and no 16 (at 1010 Nanjing Road West) in Shanghai and Beijing (As the Chinese market has shown huge interest in the past years (and enough to empty out the Hong Kong stores and a few others) this seem like the right move), and on April 21 the 17th store opened in Leica Store Rome, Italy. The 18th store is the Leica Store Marseille, France.

The 19th Leica Store Kangnam and 20th store Leica Store Chungmoo-ro opened in Seoul on May 5, 2011. Also, the German Leica-chain Meister Cameraopened their Leica Store München on May 19, 2011.

Also, in 2011-2012, autorized Leica dealers will be installing shop-in-shop concepts, Leica Bortiques, in their traditional stores in a design that aligns with the Leica Stores.

LEICA Summilux-C™ lenses. In April 2011 Leica will be delivering the first set of their line of Cine lenses (as presented in April 2010 at NAB), among them a 40mm T1.4 with "Multi ASPH" but also 18mm, 21mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 100mm PL mount primes designed to deliver ultra-high optical performance for film and digital capture. Leitz Canada developed and manufactured Panavision Primo lenses a well as the optics for the IMAX-projector for many years.

The Summilux-C and Summicron-C lenses can be ordered in an eight-lens set, 18mm, 21mm, 25mm, 35mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 100mm. The price is $178,000 for the Summilux set and $100,000 for thre Summicron set. They can only be ordered as such, handmade and gone through several quality controls. BandPro Inc in Burbank and New York who have gotten five complete lens sets for demo purposes projected in March 2011 that new orders would be delivered in first quarter 2012. It's going to be a long waiting list for these ones.

The Leica 120mm Elmarit-S Macro CS f/2.5 and other CS lenses (CS = Central Shutter, meaning there is a shutter inside the lens as well, on top of the shutter curtain in the camera that sits just in front of the sensor) will start delivery in spring 2011, probably along with the other CS lenses as Leica have developed an entirely new central shutter for their Leica S lenses (they were in fact pre-tested during Photokina 2010 where the Leica S photo studio used them non-stop for seven days).

More new Leica M lenses will be announced. Leica Camera AG are working on filling the gaps in the M lens range. Judging a glimse in the firmware of the Leica M9 that show the existence of en not-yet-existing 14mm f/2.8 lens, this might be a coming lens. While the 21mm Elmarit-M f/2.8 and 24mm Elmarit-M f/2.8 lenses seem to be skipped in 2011 and not replaced by new lenses (the 21mm Summilux-M and 24mm Summilux-M should be more intersting to have), we may hope for a new 90mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 in 2011.

Part of the introduction of the Leica M9-P in June 2011 was also the announcement of a collaboartion with Magnum Photos (a picture agency founded in 1947 by photographers Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and William Vandivert)
Leica will draw on the extensive history of Magnum and their photographers use of Leica cameras and colloborate on new projects as the one below by Christopher Anderson.

"Leica & Magnum: New York, Ten Years Later by Christopher Anderson" is a collaboration with Leica Camera AG, Magnum Photos and The New Yorker

Leica M9-P Hammer Tone Limited Edition

Leica M9-P Hammer Tone Limited Edition 100 pcs. celebrating the Leica Store Tokyo Ginza 5 year anniversary June 2011. The Leica M9-P Hammertone with Leica 28mm Elmarit-M ASPH f/2.8 and hammertone lens shade, price is listed to JPY 1,197,000 (ca. 15,000 $) for the set, and sold out in few days. See a real-life Leica M9-P Hammerthorne in use in Tokyo on the Leica M9 review page 15.

September 1, 2011 Leica Camera AG named their first awardee of the Leica Hall of Fame Award, Steve McCurry. The price was a Leica M9-P with his signature engraved. His probably most famous photograph is the "Afghan girl" Sharbat Gula, a photograph that was taken in 1984. "More than almost anyone else, Steve McCurry has recorded the terrible consequences of war and persecution and has thus had decisive influence on our perception of world affairs for decades. For his work, he deserves our thanks and recognition," was the words of Andreas Kaufmann when he handed over the award.
The award will be awarded in the future whenever Leica Camera AG feel somebody deserve it.

Leica D-Lux 5 Titanium

October 19, 2011: Leica Camera AG announced the Leica D-Lux 5 Titanium. To most this may seem as an innocent event, but it seem to be no secret that in the past - before the M9 and S2 fever - Leica Camera AG wouldn't be existing without the sweet income from the small cameras. That these still sell well may be illustrated by the fact that when I visited one of the two small Leica Store Hong Kong in November 2011, they had sold 20 of those new D-Lux 5 Titanium in just the first 6 hours of that day.
When I visited a large Broadway camera store in New York in August 2011, the owner told me that he sold more Leica D-Lux 5 than the Fuji X100 (which he happened to have in stock).

Blackstone invests in Leica Camera AG

October 20, 2011: Leica Camera AG announced in a press release that a minority, 44%, of the stocks had been sold to Blackstone so as to finance future expansion around the world. The guess is that Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (via acm Projektenwicklung GmbH) originally bought 95% of Leica Camera AG for approximately 60 million Euro, and that the 44% of the minority stocks was sold for 130 million Euro. In between a considerable amount has been invested in R&D, epansion of the factory facilities and new Leica Stores around the world (though most likely financed by external sources and not by Andreas Kaufmann via acm Projektenwicklung GmbH).

The buying of Leica Camera AG was originally done by Andreas Kaufmann and his two brothers, but seemingly they were not as interested in Leica as Andreas Kaufmann after Leica Camera AG more or less collapsed in their hands in 2004 few months after they had bought 27.4% of the stock. Long story short, Kaufmann decided to take over all of the Leica Camera AG stocks that the family owned in 2005, and his brothers were free to invest in other things (one of them retiurned to the pulp paper industry).

Andreas Kaufmann have told in interviews that his 'overnight fortune' from the family had to be used to develop something that made sense and moved things forward. He could not live with just inveting in papers. Seen in the mirror, he has taken that responsibility to forward original ideas quite serious - and made good business in doing so.

Big Leica: Artist Anat Ronen did this Leica M2 wall painting on November 2011 in Florida.

December, 2011: Leica Camera AG started delivery of the 30mm Leica Elmarit-S ASPH f/2.8 for the Leica S2 medium format camera. The LFI (Leica Fotografie International) 08/2011 brought a test and article about the new lens.

The LFI (Leica Fotografie International) 08/2011 brings a test and article about the new 30mm Leica Elmarit-S ASPH f/2.8 lens.

December 2011: The Leica Store Mayfair in London as well as the Paul Smith stores in London will started offering these two limited edition Leica D-Lux 5 leather cases for approx 200 Pounds. Only 150 of each available.

2012

January 2012 the first RED EPIC users started playing around with the Leica adapters that will enable RED EPIC video cameras to take Leica R and Leica M lenses. As if it wasn't hard enought to get Leica M lenses, this won't make it easier. And the R lenses that seemed to have dropped a little in price are likely to go op again, especially on the more exotic ones that are suitable for video.

The Leica R to EPIC RED converter. A similar exist for Leica M lenses to be mounted onto RED EPIC.

RED EPIC with the worlds best zoom, the Leica 35-70mm Vario-Elmarit-R ASPH f/2.8 that only 200 has been produced of (second-hand price ca. 10,000$)

FCDA was founded in 2009 by the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers Lucian Perkins and Anthony Suau and is a non-profit collective of dedicated photographers and writers producing and publishing collections on under-reported aspects of America's most urgent issues, while highlighting the efforts of individuals and organisations working to affect positive change. The project involve photographers like David Burnett, Alan Chin, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Danny Wilcox Frazier, Stanley Greene, Brenda Ann Kenneally, Andrew Lichtenstein, Carlos Javier Ortiz, Lucian Perkins and Anthony Suau. For more, see www.facingchange.org

Facing Change: Documenting America - Debbie Fleming Caffery: "There is a lot of lazy-ass photographers out there not doing anything. You know, just driving by, taking a picture. Walking out in the middle of the street, taking a picture and they think they have a masterpiece. My advice to them is really to get into a project, spend a lot of time in it and if it's people, get to know the people. If it is a landscape, get to know the landscape. Just get emotionally involved somehow."

Ernst Letiz II [1871-1956] was posthumosly awarded the Courage to Care Award by the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) for the efforts the factory and Leitz family did, saving 200-300 jews and their families during World War II by "employing" them and send them to the US (see next page for more on The Freedom Train"). During the Holocaust, the family who owned Leica, the Leitz family, secretly gave German Jews who would be killed by the Nazis a camera and a ticket to America, thus saving lots of lives.

The Leica 3B camera is often referred to as the "Freedom Camera" because it was given to German Jews so they could sell it for money once the got to America.

Kurt Enfield was one of the jews saved by Leitz and who later served as photographer in the US Army.

White Leica M9-P Limited Edition

Yet another limited edition of Leica M9-P has been presented in Tokyo. Only 50 samples of the white Leica M9-P in silver with white leather and white leather strap will be produced. The camera features something very special in that it has the Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95 in silver. So far we thought there would only ever exist the 20 bayonet mount and 20 screw mount that Leica Shop in Vienna had made in 2011. But now there will be 70 byonet silver Noctilux lenses around (and the prices of the 20 made last year for Leica Shop in Vienna had reached astronomic price levels).

Leica Store Washington

April 1, 2012: Leica Store Washington opened as the newest official Leica Store. Till now Leica Camera AG have also opened 54 in-store Leica boutiques inside authorized dealers, as in for example inside the fotoREISEL in Sydney.

The New Leica M Monochrom "Henri"

A new digital rangefinder aimed at taking over film photography

May 10, 2012 in Berlin: Leica Camera AG announced a new Leica M Monochrom camera based on the body of the Leica M9 and Leica M9-P but with a new developled black and white sensor. There had been rimors that Leica Camera AG was working on a new camera with the name "Henri" named after Henri Cartier Bresson. A more basic camera, and if one listened well, Andreas Kaufmann had aired a drem of making a camera and sensor that would outcompete film cameras.

This camera was the Leica M that basically is a Leica M9 where the sensor is stripped for the color filters. This makes the camera 1 stop more light sensitive (hence the base ISO of the sensor is 1 stop faster, 320 ISO), and the sensors allocated to capture RGB colors (Red, Green and Blue) would now capture simplu light (hence the images are much more detailed; in many ways the 18MP sensor behaves as a 37MP when the images are printed very large), and as a small revolution, the black & white files would be DNG files.

Peter Turnley is a traditional Leica M film photographer that turned to the Leica M Monochrom. Photo above is one of his classic film photographs, from the book "French Kiss".

The outer of the Leica M Monochrom was very much based on the Leica M9-P without any logo, but in a very subtle matt black paint and discrete leather covering. The Leica M Monochrom since the launch in Berlin has become the preferred camera for photographers like Peter Turnley and Jan Grarup and has turned out to form a new market if minimalistic Leica M users: Some incorporate the camera as yet a Leica M camera and use it alongside their color Leica M rangefinder, but quite a few sold everything else and went with the Leica M Monochrom - often with classic Leica lenses such as the Leica 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0 frm the 60s mixed with some yellow, gren and orange filters. A new generation of 'film users gone digital', just as Andreas Kaufman wanted and postulated with the Leica M Monochrom.

As expected the introduction of Leica M10 was not presented. But as Dr. Kaufmann said, the event in Berlin on May 10 was planned so as to get some of the many new products of 2012 launched. Because at Photokina there would be even more ...

One set of the Leica M9-P Hermès has been sold out for a long time, that is the one that comes with a a limited edition Hermes Camera Bag and three redesigned lenses in silver that have redesigned lens barrels with Hermès-orange numbers: Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95, Leica 28mm Summicron ASPH f/2.0 and Leica 90mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0.

The smaller set conist of the camera and a Leica 50mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4.

As can be seen, the body of the Leica M9-P Hermes Edition has been remodeled by Walter de'Silva. More interestingly the lenses has also been redesigned as well so these limited edition lenses (100 pcs. Noctilux, 100 28mm pcs. Summicron and 400 pcs 50mm Summilux-M ASPH) are quite unique with a different lens barrel design and Hermes orange numbers on the distance in feet, not to mention silver lens shades.

May 17, 2012: The ever-expanding "Leica Embassy of London", the Leica Store Mayfair announced the opening of the Café Optik serive- and hangout-place for customers, as well as a Leica S daylight studio dedicated Leica S shootings (can be rented and is complete with make-up rooms, flash setup, S-experts and all by sending an e-mail to hire@leica-camera.co.uk ).

Leica Store Mayfair now includes a daylight studio exclusively for Leica S users, as well as a café with fresh coffee, second-hand equpment and a sercice center.

Leica Store Mayfair in London is expanding to three buildings, including this Café Optik that serves coffee and offers second-hand and demo used Leica equipment.

Photokina 2012

September 18-23: Photokina is in Cologne, German every second year and Leica had their release party on the evening of September 17 where they pesented the new Leica S (aka Leica S3), the Leica M 240 (aka Leica M10) and Leica ME (the rebranded Leica M9 with lower price tag). Also the Leuca D-Lux 6 and an a la carte program for Leica X was presented (making the Leica X avaqilable in many colors).

Leica Camera AG have also rented the whole Hall 1 at Photokina for a photo and camera exhibition. Just to set the entrance to Photokina straight ...

A Special Edition Paul Smith Leica X2 was also presented at the Photokina 2012 (alongside the new Leica X2 cameras you can get custom made in many bright colors). In this video the camea is presented, then stolen by american acresss Joy Villa from the Leica Starhill Gallery and Leica Boutique in Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia. (iPhone video by Thorsten Overgaard, December 2012)

Interview with product manager Stefan Daniel on the floor of his office about the new Leica M 240

September 20: On the third day of Photokina 2012 I met with overall product manager of Leica Camera AG Stefan Daniel who supposedly was born in the Leica factory ... or was he?

The video was the first longer interview about the features of the new Leica M 240 and answered quite a few questions about the new sensor, Live view and other features. I had flown in from New York to visit Photokina for three days, then back to Washington. I wanted to do the interview on the floor beacuse everybody at Photokina had worked so hard, and I was also sort of ready to lay down:

Scaling production facilities, stabilizing
the income and dealing with some unforseen problems

2013

Consolidaing: After two years (2010-2011) with major expansion (in 2011 the sale raised 57% and the consolidated income grew to tenfold $ 45 million), year 2012 is estimated to end with a 10% increease in sale, simply because the production facilities could not output more. As an example, there is a two year waiting list on the Leica 90mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 lens. So 2013 will be the year where Leica Camera AG will be expanding the production facilities, with the help from Blackstone Group LP who took an indirect 44% ownership in 2012.

The problems with delivering the Leica M 240 became more obvious than ever in March and April of 2013 simply by the fact that very few cameras left the factory. The history of the Leica M 240 was that it was introduced at Photokina in September 2012 were ample prototypes available for guest to try out. But no final production sample cameras.

Dr. Oskar Barnack in his office. Photo by Julius Huisgen.

Leica M 240 shipping in small numbers
Whilst the new Leica M-E was available right after the Photokina introduction, the Leica M 240 was to bedelivered in "early 2013". I spoke with product manager Stefan Daniel in January 2013 where he said they wanted to build up a large enough stock to deliver to all dealers. "We don't want to start shipping just 50 cameras," as he stated. His estimate was that the Leica M 240 would start shipping in "end of April". When the camera actually started shipping March 1, 2013 it looked promising. At least till eager customers realized that the camera shipped in very limited numbers... The delievery of the Leica M 240 didn't catch up till and of 2013, and in January 2014 the camera was - sort of - available as stock in many stores around the world.

Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 recall
In the end of 2013 Leica had to issue a recall of the Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 they had launched at Photokina 2012. Not that very many lenses had shipped. The lens was supposed to be shipping few weeks after Photokina, but Leica Camera AG kept tunning into unforseen problems. And whilst they were still fighting with the problems of making the lens, users started reporting about flares and fog inside he rawther expensive lens. Hence Leica issued a reacall, and finally in January 2014 said they had put further production to a hold till they had figured out the reason (for the coating to - in some but not all cases - cause flare and/or fog inside the lens.

March 2013: The rather discrete factory in Portugal was - likewise the one in Germany - replaced with a complete new factory, and this one opened fully operational in March 2013, celebrating 40 years of Leica manufaturing in Portugal..

The Portugal factory (Leica Aparelhos Opticos de Precisão SA) origin from when Leica Camera AG bought a bankrupt precision watch factory in 1973 and made it their Portugal factory. Today the CEO of Leica Portugal is Pedro Oliveira and the general manager is Dr. Carlos Mira.

The 52,000 m2 Leica factory in portugal currently employs 750 people and will be expanding to somewhat 2,500 employees in the coming years. Almost every Leica lens, the Leica S and Leica M 240 camera is made from raw metal in the Portugal factility, then shipped to Germany for final assembly, adjustment and quality control.

The entrance to Leica Camera in Porto in Portugal featuer this large Leica M camera that houses the security.

It's part of the story to understand that "Made in Portugal" is not necessairly a downgrade. The original establishment of the Portugal facility was not to move productin to Portugal, but to take over a complete and working facility that could produce to the high standard of Leica. A task the coorporation with Minolta years earlier had shown was not an easy one. In Portugal Leica Camera AG found a culture used to and capable of presicion assembly, and made it theirs.

Speaking of which: The Leica 75mm Summilux-M f/1.4 exist as both "Made in Canada" and "Made in Wetzlar", and generally the German version is the most sought after, and most expensive. What most people who buy this lens (that is only available second-hand and have gone to hights of $6,000) fail to recignize is that the "Made in Canada" lense are often the best. The designer of this and many other classic Leica lenses, Walter Mandler, was actually running the Canada factory. So that put "Made in Germany" versus "Made Elsewhere" in perspective ...

A video from the opening of the new Leica factory in Portugal, attended by the prime minister:

May 17, 2013: The owner of the majority of Leica Camera AG, the Austrian based holding company ACM Projektentwicklung (Andreas Kaufmann) acquired 25.1% of the California based on-line photo competition I-SHOT-IT.COM that was founded by Hartmut Hennige in September 2010. Ohter investors are Matthias Frei of Zurich.

I have been the lead judge in the competition since it started in 2010. Anyone can participate in the competition with any film or digital photo they have taken them self, from any period, with any camera. The judges can't see the identity, camera or any other inforamtion of the photos we judge; only the photos.

There are several competitions going on over the year, with themes from flowers and dogs to landscapes and black & white. The winner is awarded a cash price and a Leica camera.

June 11 2013: After the highly succesful viral campaign prior to the Leica M9 release in 2009, someone tried to repeat the success with a campaign for "The Mini M" which - probably to their full satisfaction - created a roar of expectations in the Leica community.

However, if one started reading the blogs and forums to see what the users expected to be able to buy, it was far from the product Leica Camera AG was in fact planning on releasing.

The clash between the expected and the actual "Mini M" became obvious on June 11, 2013 when Leica Camera AG released the compact camera. Not a Leica M, and cetainly not a Leica Mini M, but a Leica X compact camera with a zoom.

If internet forums could kill, this day would have marked the end of Leica!

I address the Leica X Vario a little in my Leica Digilux 2 article. Else I recommend looking at the sample pictures and intitial article Jono Slack have done here after having had the camera for betatest since December 2012.

The viral campaign that Leica launched on their website and on their Facebook page for the Leica Mini M that turned out to be a Leica X Vario will most likely go over in history as a very effective campaign, with a lot of wrong speculations and a lot of disappointed users. Reason being that a Leica Mini M addresses the Leica M audience, whereas the Leica X Vario addresses another group. Hence the campaign created a great impact on a target group that is unlikely to actual buy the camera, whereas the ones that will actually buy the camera was unlikely to have heard about it before they stepped into a camera store and ask for a camera to take with them on holiday. We learned "not to mess with the M", Leica Camera AG said after the campaign.

Admiring a print in the Leica Store Los Angeles. People pop in throughout the day to talk, have a coffee, show their pictures and try out new Leica stuff. February 2014. Leica M 240 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95. Thorsten Overgaard @ 2014

A new era of Leica Stores: Leica Store Los Angeles

The Leica Store Ginza in Tokyo was the first Leica Store, and set a quite high standard for how a Leica Store should present the brand. Largely made by use of the most exclusive materials and with no shortcuts, by Japanese designers and the store manager Shiyo Takahashi (who used to be with Hermès), the store might have been a little hard to follow by German designers and the folks at Leica Camera AG when they rolled out the concept in a growing number of new cities in the years to follow.

With the new Leica Store Los Angeles om 8783 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90048 that opened on June 20, 2013 the bar for how a Leica Store can look, have been raised. The subtle admiration Leica Camera AG has for Apple and their Apple Stores is obvious in the spacious new store that features a large store space, a bright gallery with workshop spaces, as well as a distinct link to the art world with the large stainless "Fake Leica" sculpture by Liao Yibai (Expect the art to play a larger role in relation to Leica Camera AG in the future, not only in the form of Leica Galleries).

The spacious Leica Gallery Los Angeles on the 1st floor includes a library and a nice open atrium/event space.

The Leica Store Los Angeles was so grand that it seemed impossible to make it profitable, but as it has happened before, bold moves by Leica Camera AG have turned out to be unexpected profitable. Soon after the opening of the Leica Store Los Angeles, the location became popular as a film location as well as for special events. It's a nice space, and being associated with Leica and Made in Germany is a new intersting possibility for eventmakers in Hollywood.

December 2013. The beautiful large Leica Store Los Angeles (here with the Astrid Kirchherr Beatles exhibit on show) has grown to become not just a Leica home in Los Angeles. It is also used for events and filming. Recently a film crew was filming George Clooney in the store. In other words, you never know who you might stumble into at Leica Store Los Angeles. Photo: Leica Store Los Angeles.

A zen moment in the Leica Store Los Angeles. The open atrium on 1st floor for those who need a cigarette while considering which lens to get next. Thorsten Overgaard, Fbeuary 2014.

Camera Fashion Statement

September 2013: New Leica C-Lux with WiFi. Already in a Bloomberg interview in December 2012, CEO of Leica Camera AG, Alfred Schopf, mentioned that "Leica will introduce Social Media capabilities in cameras in the future". In September 2013 Leica introduced that camera, the new Leica C-Lux. Specially designed for women (but unisex if you want it to be), with clutch, handbag and more. But also with WiFi that allow the user to remote control the camera, use it as a surveillance camera controlled by your iPhone via WiFi and post images directly from camrea to social media.

A step that, if one consider it, will give some interesting new features in the future Leica M digital rangefinders and Leica S medium format cameras. It is also notable that in times where camera manufacturers mainly compete on megapixels and features, Leica Camera AG come up with a camera that - besides the fact that it has a Leica lens and a red Leica dot on it - comes with a complete cosmetic kit of bags and purses, as well as technology on the forefront. It's a sign.

Leica C camera inside a Leica clutch, designed by Audi.Introduced in a video with Swizz fashion blogger Yvan Rodic whom everybody who has ever been to a fashion week anyewhere, have see on first row and on the streets capturing street fashion for his blog facehunter.org.

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Leica M 240 (RED)

October 8, 2013: Leica Camera AG presented photos of the Leica M 240 (RED) designed by Apple designer Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson. A one-off camera to be sold for charity in November 2013.

Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson spent nine months on that Leica project and the process involved an astounding 947 different prototype parts and 561 different models before the design was completed. Jonathan Ive to Vanity Fair: “I found it a very odd and unusual thing to put this amount of love and energy into one thing, where you are only going to make one. But isn’t it beautiful?”. Marc Newson added, "You discover that very few people have the level of perfection we do. It is actually very sick”. Photo: Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair.

It is a one-of-a-kind limited edition, only one piece produced to support Bono's (RED) project. On November 23 it was sold for $1,805,000 at the RED auchtion at Sotheby's. It is likely that Apple and Leica Camera AG each spent much more deveoping the camera.

It is not very likely that the camera will be used that much. It will be a collectors item mainly for someone who value Leica, Apple designer Jonathan Ive and supporting a good cause. But Apart from the obvious PR and test-coorporation between Leica and Apple, some of the features we may see used in future Leica M models. Just as it wss the case with the Leica M9 Titanium designed by Audi.For example the bottom plate with the new design of the release mechanism. Or perhaps the shutter speed wheel on top of the camera. And who knows what's inside?

The Leica C lenses for moviemaking have been in the horizon since Photokina 2010, but delivery is occuring now. The set is sold in a case with six lenses, and only as a set. The expensive Summilux set is $200,000, the less expensive is the $100,000 set.

Leica in Asia has been exploding under the ownership of Andreas Kaufmann and the management of CEO of Leica Camera Pacific Asia Pte. Ltd., Sunil Kaul. No less than nine new Leica Strores in Asia in 2013, inceased sale in all countires of Asia, and Leica taking over the distribution in Australia from an agent to running things them self.

It is a common misunderstanding that "Chinese buys all the Leica cameras and lenses" becasue fact is that somewhat 75% of Leica cameas are sold in the US. And the market structure in Asia is more detailed than that: To give an idea, many people in Hong Kong buy their cameras from Europe. The Chinese buy from Hong Kong and Singapore and elsewhere. The store in Shanghai rarely have stock, so nobody really know who buys in China. And European dealers does parallel import into Hong Kong where the demand for rare limited editions and second-hand collectors items seems unlimited (why the prices are high). Japan have experienced a period after the tsunami where the Yen was so high that even the Japanese users would buy from elsewhere - though by the end of 2013 the Yen was stabilized, and so was the Leica prices.

But, point is, it's never as simple as it looks. And don't blame the Chinese, the problem is rather that Leica Camera have experienced extreme growth in denamd since the presentation of the Leica M9 in 2009.

October 14, 2013: Leica Store ribbon cutting in Beijing, China. Far left is CEO of Leica Camera Pacific Asia Pte. Ltd., Sunil Kaul and number fourth from left is CEO of Leica Camera AG, Alfred Schopf.

Large Format History: Sinar bought by Leica Camera AG

December 1, 2013:Leica Camera AG announced that they had bought the worlds leading producer of large-format camerasSinar Photography. Already on December 12, Sinar announced that they now present theSinar p MF-L that takes Leica S body and adds Sinar front to it.

Ansel Adams did not use Sinar, but he looks incredible stylish in this photo with his non-Sinar 4x5" camera.

With the Leica S medium format camera introduction a few years ago, Leica Camera AG had to build up a new organization from the ground, consisting to a large degree of former Hasselblad, Capture One and Mamiya Leaf staff in order to address the medium format market.

The acquisition of Sinar could be seen as an expansion of offers to this segment of professional photographers - many of them working in a studio and thus very different from the Leica M users.

The acqusition of Sinar also gives Leica access to Swiss staff with a different culture and a client base of professionals tudio photographers. Not to mention that Sinar have workflow software and color calibrators that - with some adjustments - might be used under the Leica brand as well.

January 21, 2014: This day marked the 100th year of the Leica M camera that started out as just two prototypes in 1914 (as described in the top of this page).

The year 2014 is the anniversary year, hence Leica Camera AG did not celebrate the day in any other special way then issuing a press release. For my part, I participated in the celebrations by having my Leica M 240 and my 50mm Noctilux staying at the factory in Solms being adjusted after a year of heavy use.

The actual celebration of the 100th anniversary of Leica M and Leica Camera AG as a still camera manufacturer will likely take place in two significant events of 2014, the official opening of the new Leica Camera AG factory in Letiz Park in Wetzlarer in May, and at Photokina 2014 in September.

New Leica Stores in London, Kyoto, Singapore and more ...

Leica in London have grown an impressive Leica empire over the last few years. First one building, then one more ont he other side of the street on Bruton Place (and they are not done yet). Now they expand the empire a a couple of thousand meters with a Leica Store in the historic location, Burlington Arcade, a shopping street with a ceiling over, from when the upper class had a need to shop in privacy.

London will soon see a new fully renovated Leica Store in the Burlington Arcade. The store was taken over in December 2013 and set up as a pop-up store but will be closed for complete renovation in early 2014.

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April 11, 2014: Leica moved the last people and parts from the old factory in Solms, to the new Leica campus in Wetzlar (at Am Leitz Platz 1, Wetzlar, Germany). I happened to visit both the old and the new factory on the day, and this is my reportage from Solms and Wetzlar (click on the photo to see and read).

In the bottom of this page is the story of the planning and building of the Leitz Park if you are interested in the background story as well.

May 23, 2014: The new Leica factory in Wetzlar officially opened, with a 100 year WestLicht Auction of 2x100 rare items. The Leica Museum and Leica Gallery Wetzlar officially opened the same day.

The celebration is that it is "exactly" 100 years since Oskar Barnack produced the prototype of the first Leica. (The actual 100 year of the introduction of the Leica is in year 2025, so keep a little champagne till then).

The long rumored Leica 28mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4 was presented in the special kit that will be made in 101 limited sets (Leica M-A, Leica M Monochrom and three Leica Summilux lenses (28/35/50mm). The lens will be available as a normal black edition in 2015.

July 16, 2014: Commercial Director of Leica Camera Ltd (UK) since September 2012, Jason Heward is new CEO after David Bell stepped down. Here is an interview with him on Gadabouting from just a week before he was named new CEO. In the interview he talks about "a shift from Leica customer to Leica owner. Our owners are seeking a relationship with the Brand, not just a product. This is why we focus on the conversation. We want our experience to be authentic, where Leica owners can immerse themselves into the world of photography." Follow Jason Heward on Twitter.

The New Leica Store San Francisco

463 Bush Street, San Francisco, USA, July 1, 2014

I arrived one day too late to be there for the soft opening of the new Leica Store San Francisco, but got to see the store that is getting finished. The official opening was August 16, 2014.

The Leica Store SF has the potential to be one of the best Leica Stores around. The feel and the size will invite to become a place to hangout, to meet up and share photos and show off old film cameras. That's how the best Leica Stores work, such as LA, Tokyo and London. Note that there is the Akiko's Restaurant Japanese restaurant just down the street that is a great place for lunch or dinner after having visited the Leica Store.

August 1, 2014: Leica Camera AG acquired 75% of the Leica Shop Vienna and WestLicht Photographica Auction from Peter Coeln (born 1954) who started the vintage trading of Leica and other camera brands in 1991 after he stopped as a professional photographer (and thus was the first to use the name Leica Shop; Leica Camera AG then used Leica Store for their shops), and later added the WestLicht Gallery and Museum in 2001. It is e bit unclear if and WestLicht Schauplatz für Fotografie (gallery, cafe and museum) is part of the acquisition, but the Leica Store Vienna that Leica Camera AG and Peter Coeln started in the center of Vienna in 2012 is part of the acquisition.

Apart from the store and gallery, Peter Coeln also started OstLicht Gallery (EastLicht Gallery) a couple of years ago and has a big personal collection of polaroids, photographies and cameras which are likely not part of the acquisition.

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August 20, 2014: You can almost set a Swiss watch to three years life cyclus of a Leica M digital rangefinder. That is when a new version is introduced. And if you set it to one and a half year, that is when the MP version usually arrives.

When I was getting my spare Leica M 240 in Silver from BH PHoto in April this year, I looked in the horizon for the M-P version, but then decided it didn't matter that much. But as a Leica user it should be part of your planning that you might want to change things around and sex it up halfway in the product cycle.

When Leica introduced the Leica M 240 they said it would just be the Leica M and the sub-model number Typ240 would be the changing factor. Hence it is interesting to see that the Leica M-P is indeed not "just" a model with no red logo, the screen has gotten sapphire glass, and engraved top plate. We also notice that the frame selector is back(!). But the real news - and an actual upgrade - is the addition of 2GB RAM that allows continiously shooting without the camera slowing down. It should be possible to shoot up to 24 images in full continuous speed of 3.7 fps (according to LeicaRumors.com - three times more than the existing model that slows down after 7 frames).

It's an intersting addition and point to a future increase of buffer in the Leica M digital rangefinders that may well bring the burst shoot speed up towards those of the fastest dSLR cameras. If it also handles some of the problems with the Leica M 240 freezing is a good question. But mainly it shows that Leica Camera AG has a willingnes to continiously improve and upgrade "existing models". Also note the elegant black thumbs wheel and black INFO button on the back of the black version of the Leica M-P. The black screw is for decoration purposes only (some have thought the screw on the MM and M9-P was for focus adjustment. It is not).

American producer and director Reid H Bangers of Northpass Media approached me in 2013 about a movie project, and in May 2014 we filmed in Rome.

The documentary "A Life With Leica featuring Thorsten von Overgaard" has been premiering at live events in West Hollywood (August 10, 2014) and BH Photo New York (September 2, 2014) and Jakarta and Hong Kong in November 2014.

It is now available online as well:

The documentary was first thought as one short documentary but will be a series of documentaries on Leica photographers, collectors and Leica folks at large. You can follow the project on www.lifewithleica.com and at facebook.com/lifewithleica

About 45 people had the opportunity to see the premiere of "A Life With Leica" by Northpass Media in the private viewing room in West Hollywood on August 10, and another 70 signed up for the screening at the BH Photo NY Super Store in September 2014.

The CEO of Leica Camera said early in 2014 that Leica had a need for releasing products throughout the year because they had so many new products for Photokina 2014. As can be seen, he was right. Leica Camera released quite a few new things at Photokina 2014 (and have more in storage for later):

Leica M Edition 60 anniversary model of the Leica M 240 in film-like body in stainless steel finish (magnesium body and stainless steel top - 720g w/battery), with a central ISO dial of stainless steel on camera’s back. Designed with Audi, celebrating the 60th year of the release fo the Leica M3 in 1954. Released in 600 pieces with a Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPH FLE f/1.4 in stainless steel at a set price of $18,500.

Leica M-A Type 127 film camera in blackor silver (which was released first at in May 2014 as a limited edition of 100 pieces in stainless steel). This is a sort of update of the Leica MP that so-far is still inproduction).

Leica Camera AG also released a new series of Leica-branded photo bags from Artisan & Artist ($340), Schedoni (Handmade in Italy, $4,500) and Aneas ($980).

Leica smartphone

Who would have known. Panasonic presented a smartphone with Leica 28mm f/2.8 lens and a 1 inch sensor at Photokina 2014. It has micro-SD card slot that supports up to 128GB cards, 4K video and - some may find it ironic that a smartphone features the same as a Leica camera - a a 2GB image buffer.

Leica have supplied lenses to Panasonic cameras, video recorders and projectors for a number of years.

Panasonic Lumix CM1 Smartphone with Leica 28mm f/2.8 lens

The Leica Cloud

At Photokina 2014 Leica Camera AG revealed the plans of a Leica cloud service for photographers, the Leica Fotopark. It was a faily new idea (hence not ready yet) and I think nobody really knows what the idea is.

It is not a cloud in the sense that one can store images there, nor is it a backup system for the same reason, plus that it would only be in that one place if it would store high resolution original files (a backup system woudl require two locations).

What it seems to be is a sharing community for users of Leica and other who want to be part of it. Structured in many ways like Flickr and 500px.

It will be a way to store and share photos and to create connections with other Leica users. You can join for free on the Leica Fotopark website.

The Leica FotoPark as it looked as beta version during Photokina. A free membership will allow up to 10GB free space. A Premium membership will allow 100GB space. Expect release in November 2014.

Leica states in the terms and conditions that it will be the members own responsibility to backup what is stored in the Leica cloud. It is not a backup solution (no clouds are, actually).

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February 2015 was the month of complete victory for the Leica Cine Lenses. Not only did the lenses themself win an Oscar. Also a lot of the movies nominated for an Oscar in 2015 were made with Leica Cine lenses, including Movie of the Year, Birdman. Read my article on the Leica Cine Lenses.

Leica Cine lenses was used for the Oscar-winning Movie of the Year 2015, Birdman. Notable for the long sequences of continuos filming. Diretor Alejandro González Iñarritú, Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki, Steady Cam Operator Chris Haarhoff and lead actor Michael Keaton.

March 2, 2015: Alfred Schopf, CEO of Leica Camera AG since 2010 has been replaced with Oliver Kaltner who has been Chief Officer Marketing, Sales & Retail at Leica Camera AG since September 2014.

Leica special deals
and the never-before seen special price on Limited editoon

Leica started off 2015 with a special $750 discount on a new Leica M 240 in the US and a $250 discount on any lens. The offer could be a discount due to the rise of the US Dollar over the Euro, but soon the discoun tin the US was followed by similar discounts in Europe, Australis and other places.

The Leica M-P was not discounted ... but then Leica announced their limited edition Leica M-P Safari camera with a 35mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 lens. A set that normally is $11,000 but is ready for delivery around March 3 for just $9,998.

I would expect the follow-up to Leica M 240 and M-P 240 to arrive in around a year, so it's a quite good deal.

The Leica M-P Safari is actually a pretty good deal. 10K for a 11K lens and camera, and even in Safari limited edition.

Leica "Lenny Kravitz Reporter" limited edition kit

March 5, 2015: Leica Gallery Los Angeles hosts an exclusive event on March 5, 2015 with Lenny Kravitz, and this month also marks the release of the limited edition Leica camera set, "Reporter", designed by Lenny kravitz.

Lenny Kravitz' Instagram page with the new camera, out and about in February 2015. He has been an avid Leica photographer for years.

The Leica M PL Mount Adaptor now ships

April 2015: The adaptor for the Leica M 240 and Leica M-P 240 that allow it to take PL mount lenses (Leica Cine lenses) now ships from CW Sonderoptic in Wetzlar. The adaptor is a baseplate and handgrip with an adaptor mounted and makes the Leica M 240 into a directors viewfinder, allows set photographers to use the same lenses as the film camera, and of course Leica M 240 owners to buy or rent Leica Cine lenses and use them on their Leica M 240.

Those who expected a soulfull follow-up to the Leica M Monochrom, perhaps without screen or other features omitted to make the Monochrom even more basic, will be disappointed. Much suggest that the research and development department at Leica Camera AG simply removed the color filter from the Leica M 240.

Considering how the innovative Leica M Monochrom since its introduction in May 2012 have created a new segment of purists between traditional film cameras and Leica M 240, the offer may leave the fans with an empty hole in their hearth till next version is launced.

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The Leica 28mm Summilux-M f/1.4 ASPH

The long rumored Leica 28mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4 that was (finally) presented in the special kit made in 101 limited sets for the May 2014 anniversary is now (even more finally) officially announced as a lens available in stores (not part of a special limited kit). Delivery started very slowly in June 2015 with long waiting lists.

June 27, 2015 - Leica Store Copenhagen: The Leica Boutique Copenhagen opened officially next to Photografica which is the owner of the new store. Photografica has been known for many years as a great location for new, second-hand and rare vintage Leica equipment. The Leica Boutique København is an upgrade of that status.

On October 20, 2015 Leica also introduced a new Leica M 262 that is somewhat the Leica M9 body with a Leica M 240 inside. An economical intro camera with the utmost simplicity but the most advanced tachnology inside. It's an interim Leica M till the new Leica M 241 will be introduced in 2016. . Read my article here.

Exhibition von Overgaard raised $10,000 for education

The Thorsten von Overgaard exhibition opened on November 27, 2015 in the Leica Gallery Singapore with Leica fans from wall to wall. All proceedings from the sale in this exhibition goes to the children of Cambodia via Caring for Cambodia. The first evening made $10,000 to the children of Cambodia. The exhibition is the best-selling exhibition in the story of the Leica Gallery Singapore. See the story here.

The new Leica Store Denmark in Copenhagen opened on December 12, 2015.

The store features a gallery, studio and piano! It is open Tuesday to Friday at Frederiksberg Allé 47, 1820 Frederiksberg C, Denmark. Tel +45 3630 1234, www.leicastore.dk

2016

New Leica Store India

India will see three new Leica Stores opening in 2016, the first one opening in Bangalore, India.

Huawei - Leica Camera AG relationship

February 24, 2016 Leica Camera AG announced a new strategic relationship with Chinese smartphone manufactorer Huawei (the worlds no 3 smartphone manufacturer). The first phone is the Huawei P9 that was released in April 2016.

New Leica Store Shangri-La

March 11, 2016: Leica Store Shangri-La is now open. Read LeicaRumors.com for more.

New Leica Store in Gangnam, Korea

March 19, 2016: New Leica Hyundai Coex store opened in the Gangnam district of Seoul, South Korea (Telephone: 02-3467-8380). Read LeicaRumors.com for more.

The Leica M-D 262, digital rangerfinder without screen

April 28, 2016: A version of the Leica M 262 without screen has been announced April 28, 2016. It was first rumored two months before by LeicaRumors.com.

It's the Leica M 262 without a screen, inspired by the Leica M60 limited model that was the first Leica digital rangefinder without a screen. It's very much like the M60 with the addition of a thumb wheel (for exposure compensation), brass top and bottom plate, and the new quiet shutter the Leica M 262 introduced.

The "Leica Family Tree" is the piece that used to be in the factory in Solms till May 2015 with all the Leica M and Leica R models. As such, this is the easy way to start a rather complete collection without having to take the check book out more than once.

The easy way to start a rather complete collection without having to take the check book out more than once. Talk with Christie's in London.

Leica ND-filters

Leica announced some months ago that they would start making ND Filters. They surfaced a few places in August 2016 and I have done a small test of the 4-stop 60mm ND-filter on my Leica Noctilux page here.

Photokina 2016 releases (September 20-25, 2016)

The Leica Camera AG's Photokina 2016 was rumored to be a "professional" appearance, indicating that the focus would be on the Leica SL and Leica S.

There are still some rumors and expectations haging in the air, unanswered:
-
When is the new Leica M 241/Leica M10 coming?
- When is the Leica Q special edition(s) coming?
- When is the Leica Q with 35mm and/or 50mm coming?
- Will there be some new Leica/Sinar products coming?

Some days before Photokina Leica Camera AG announced a new (and highly unexpected) consumer instant camera in the days before the Photokina 2016 started. The Leica Sofort (which is a German name that translates into "Leica Immediately") is a $300 Leica that takes instant film. It's a great idea.

Leica Sofort (which is a German name that translates into "Leica Immediately") is a $300 Leica that takes instant film. It's a great idea.

Stabilizing Leica

It seems obvious that the phase Leica is in now is about stabilizing the current products and not inventing new advanced stuff. While we may be looking forward to the next Leica M, perhaps giving cutomers faster turnaround on repairs and adjustments, getting Leica Fotopark to make sense and work (it was was just re-launched), producing enough Leica Q cameras to supply demand, getting promised lenses for the Leica SL into production and rolling, and all that, is more important. I feel the hand of CEO Oliver Kaltner in this strategy, doing what is obvious and also making Dr. Andreas Kaufmann's wish to make Leica Camera AG even more profitable, a reality. Kaufmann on one hand push many new ideas, but he also want Leica Camera AG to be not just profitable, but extremely profitable, so it can ensure the company's future freedom to exist and come out with unique products.Much seem to indicate that what CEO Oliver Kaltner has been busy with since he was appointed CEO in April 2015, has been figuring out how to get it all to actually work, and utilizing the successes of Leica. Everything Leica have made is selling well. So instead of making more stuff, make the stuff that already exist work better and sell even more.

It's not that new things are not in the pipeline. CW Sonderoptic will be building a brand new factory in Wetzlar, there will be new hotel facilities and other things built in the Leica Campus as well. And in the product lineup, new Q and M models will come, as well as lenses for the SL, S, T and M.

Leica SL new lenses

Leica Camera AG also announced new prime lenses for the Leica SL. The one they already announced, the 50/1.4 is available for preorder and others will follow in 2017. Also the Leica HG-SCL 4 multifunctional handgrip was re-announced and ready for preorder.

This pretty much follows the release-strategy for the Leica S was was announced way before it was available. A large R&D invetment to be released and monetized over the long haul.

Just as the Leica S was, the Leica SL has turned out to be a huge success amongst Leica fans long before it is ready for the professionals it was intented for.

On the opening day of the Photokina 2016, Leica Camera AG announced that Stephan Schulz who joined Leica in 2007 to develop the Leica S will be heading the new Leica Pro unit. This will cover Leica S, Leica SL and Leica Cine lenses. It's not as important news for the Leica user as it is for Leica Camera AG internally, but it indicates that Leica Camera AG will try to cater better to pro users in the future. That means renting options via pro rental facilities around the world, turn-around on repairs, financing equipment (as it is the norm in pro equipment), etc. This is something that been in the works for a few years since Leica Camera AG put their existing Pro Service to rest in 2013. Their previous (and for some still exiting) Pro Service was 48 hours turn-around on repairs in Wetzlar, and 10% discount on repairs.

Another example of stabilizing what already exist, and making it work even better and more profitable, is turning some of the most unique Leica M lenses into Cine Lenses. Also at Photokina 2016, it was announced that a handfull of the Leica M lenses has been redesigned for cine use as "Leica M 0.8 Cine" by CW Sonderoptic (which is the sister-company to Leica Camera AG, with headquarter just next to Leica in Wetzlar). Read about Leica Cine lenses in my article here.
CW Sonderoptic have spent some time figuring out how to make Leica Cine lenses that has the qualities of the Noctilux. The answer seemed stright-forward: Simply make the Noctilux work on Cine.

Leica Camera AG's sister-company Sinar came out with the Sinarback S 30|45 which is based on the Leica S 37.5 MP sensor and Maestro II processor. Not a new technology, but re-use of existing Leica technology. Using what exists is the name of the game for Leica right now.

The Sinarback S 30|45. It's Leica S technology inside and the controls on the back are similar to Leica S. It does video too.

The 28mm Summaron-M f/5.6 classic lens - again

October 2016: Leica spent some time in 2015 and 2016 completing the lineup of 28mm lenses. The Leica Q lens, the f/1.4, the f/2.0 and the f/2.8 all came out in updated design. See my article on Leica 28mm lenses here. The final part of the puzzle is the revival of this 1955-lens in October 2016. The original Leica 28mm Summaron-M f/5.6 was reviewed in Leica Fotografie Interntational 2/1957 by David Seymour "Chim" (1911-1956).

The lens shade for the Leica 28mm Summaron-M f/5.6 is made of black painted brass. The original one from 1955 is model SOOBK 12500 which sells at $500-$700 on eBay (and the original 1955-lens you would also need; that one is usually around $1,000 without shade).

Limited editions of the Leica Q

There's been made a few limited editions of the Leica Q 116 since October 2016 and forward. Here are some of them:

Leica Q Carbon in a very limited edition of only 30 from Leica Store Ginza in Tokyo, Japan. Price is $5,800 (via Leicarumors.com).

As of October 2016 the Leica Q is also available in the Titanium edition (Model no 19012). Price in Germany is Euro 4,450 and in the US the price is $4,495.

Leica Singapore introduced the Leica Q Camouflage Edition in October 2016 (reen, Red or Khaki leatherette) printed with the camouflage design and exclusively available only in Leica Store Singapore. Above is a beautiful limited edition Leica Q from Singapore with the Ventilated Shade I designed, which is also sold at Leica Store Singapore. Photo by Kingson Lee.

Huawei Mate 9 with Dual Leica camera

November 3, 2016: The new Huawei Mate 9 is the next generation of dual-sim phone with Dual Leica camera.

2017

Here it comes (almost), the Leica M10

January 18, 2017: It seems to have been the strategy to focus on real business at Photokina in September 2016 and postpone the release of the next Leica M model to a later point. Presumeably to be able to produce stock so the camea could be delivered to some degree after the release. The release was first set to 2016, then pushed to January 18, 2017.

There is a very interesting interview with Oliver Kaltner here. He's been doing great things for Leica Camera AG.

It's not unsual for Leica Camera AG to change CEO's often. Actually it's the norm. Leica Camera AG is essentially a famiy run company, with several members of the Kaufmann family in active roles. But mainly Dr. Andreas Kaufmann takes passionate interest in the company. So mostly new CEO's can be seen as the right person to perform the next strategy, and when the strategy changes, a new person is needed to perform the day-to-day execution.

More Macrolux lenses for Leica Cine

March 25, 2017: CW Sonderoptic that produces the Leica Cine lenses (and is located next to the Leica Camera AG facotry in Wetxlar, Germany), released two additional "Macrolux" +2 and +0.5 macro lenses that fits on the Leica Cine lenses. The first Macrolux +1 was released two years ago. Read more on LEICA Barnack Berek Blog

Update: On July 17 Leica announced that there was a problem with some of the Leica TL2 cameras that died. The error is likely the GPS in the EVF that, when turned on in the menu, can cause the camera to go into power save mode and not wake up again. A firmware fix is expected for this end of July/early August.

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Andres Kaufmann interview
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September 1, 2017:New CEO of Leica Camera AG is Matthias Harsch who has been with the compamny since April 2017 as responsible for Sales, retaila and corporate/marketing communication. He has previously headed Bizerba Group and Loewe television in Germany. (Link to official press release).

Leica CL

November 21, 2017: The Leica CL was announced and is probably best described as a Leica TL2 with built-in EVF. All the Leica T, TL and SL lenses fits on the camera. See my article here "Leica CL - The Plot Thickens"

Spring 2018: The Noctilux family was expanded with the first lens, the Leica 75mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/1.25. Delivered to the first customers in March 2018. The delivery was planned to be before, but as one could expect, this lens wasl not be an easy one to roll out. Very demanding precision assembling is required and the rumor has it, only one person at Leica in Wetzlar has the eye and steady hands to perform the assembling.

Leica Store Dubai

The new Leica Store Dubai is opening in March 2018 and will also be strongly represented online. Note the wooden tover in the center of the store, it's a large 0.95 Noctilux.

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Leica Cine lenses experience
second-hand prize winning at Cannes

May 2018: The Leica Cine lenses (as well as Leica M and Leic R lenses) was used in a number of the winning movies at this years Cannes Film Festival: Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters” took the top festival prize for Japanese director Kore-Eda Hirokazu. The film was shot by Ryûto Kondô with Leica Summicron-C lenses on an Arricam ST 35mm film camera.

Lukas Dhont’s film “Girl” was awarded the Caméra d’Or prize for best first feature film (and lead charactor Victor Polster also picked up the Best Actor award). The film was shot by Frank van den EedenFrank van den Eeden with Leica Summicron-C lenses on ARRI Alexa Mini.

The Palme d’Or Spéciale honor went to director Jean-Luc Godard’s film “Le Livre D’image”. The film was shot using Leica R series and Leica M series lenses on Sony A7 cameras by cinematographer Fabrice Aragno.

“En Liberte!”,a romantic comedy from director Pierre Salvadori earned the SACD prize. Cinematography by Julien Poupard paired the Leica Summilux-C lenses with the ARRI Alexa Mini in what he described as “a simple configuration, which I like. Keeps it all human.” In talking about using the T1.4 lenses wide open during night shoots, he said the presented “a really interesting fuzziness and a feeling of both sharpness and softness.”

"Shoplifters" was the Palme d’Or winner at Cannes 2018 and was shot on he Leica Cine Summilux-C lenses.

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June 15: Two years after the beginning of building, a hotel and a number of other new buildings opens officially at the Leica Campus in Wetzlar, "Leitzpark", the space opposite the street of the facory. The hotel Living Ernst Leitz Hotel with 129 rooms and a restaurant opens, as well as a new headquarter for the CW Sonderoptic (that produces Leica Cine lenses, now renamed to Leitz Cine), a Huwaei/Leica development center, a museum and gallery, and more.

The new "Leitzpark" with hotel, museum, gallery, CW Sonderoptic headquarter, restaurant and more.

The Leica Archive opens

Leica formally have established their company archive with two people working on filing, collecting and touring the archive. It contains quite some interesting gems, which you can read about in this article by Dave Farkas.

June 15: Leica announced a series of new "Leitzpark" limited editions of the Leica M10 (in silver and black), Leica Q (in black) and Leica D-Lux (in black), which mainly consist of special engravings and leatherette (the most special fefature of them is that they were available only in the Wetzlar store, and only June 15 and 16 2018).

The opening of the "Leitzpark" also prompted Leica Camera AG to announce a new 24 MP Leica C-Lux model in light gold and midnight blue versions for $1,060.00. (Review by Jono Slack here).

The Leica M10 special "Edition ZAGATO" however, is a special $21,600 designed 250 pcs limited edition with a likewise special edition Leica Summilux-M 35 mm f/1.4 ASPH. You can learn more about the design company, known for their classic and modern care designs, here. Zagato already made a special edition binocular earlier this year for Leica Camera AG, the Leica Ultravid 8x32 Edition Zagato.

Also two new Leica watches, L1 and L2 was introduced, which will be available in selected stores.

Where still photography like to increase the megaapixels, the cine cameras increase the sensor size and thus require lenses with even larger diameter coverage. The THALIA lenses does just that, they cover up to ARRI ALEXA 65, RED 8K and more with an image circle of 60mm. THALIA is Greek and means, "pletiful". Price range is around $25,000 per lens and there will be24, 30, 35, 45, 55, 70, 100, 120 and 180mm.
With aperture ranging from f/2.2 tol f/3.9 they are not Summilux-C or Summicron-C lenses. But they cover full-frame, and they are lightweight and not terrible expensive in cine context.

See my Leica M10 article for link to firmware, how to install, how to set the camera up.

Leica Elpro E52 close-up attachment for almost all lenses

August 9, 2018: LeicaRumors slipped the news that Leica Camera AG will be announcing their new ELPRO E52 (model no 14125) macro kit that will fit any lens with an E52, E49 and E46 filter thread. That means a large number of lenses on Leica M (21/3.4, 35/1.4, 50/1.4, 35/2.0 and more), Leica Q (28/1.7; wonder how that's going to look if you turn on the lens' built-in macro as well!), Leica X (23/1.7), Leica TL (23/2.0, 15-56/3.5-5.6 and more). Price is in the range of $400.

The ELPRO front lenses is something Leica Camera AG have been doing in the past, and in more recent times they have made excellent ELPRO front lenses for macro for the Leica Cine lenses and the Leica S lenses.

October 10, 2018: The "Khaki" limited edition was released worldwide in khaki cowhide leather at $4,995.00 including khaki colored leather strap.

Leica Q Khaki (type 19040)

Leica M10-D digital rangefinder without a screen

October 24, 2018: Leica Camera AG announced the new version of the Leica M10 without a screen. It also has a rewind lever that works as a thumb rest. For how a digital camera without a screen makes sense, read my article on the Leica M60 and Leica M-D 262 what was the first digital rangefinders without a screen.

Leica M10-P Limited Edition "Bold Grey"

October 24, 2018: Only 60 sets is made of the Austrian limited edition "Bold Grey" Leica M10-P that comes with a 35mm Summicron-M f/2.0. Here is a video introducing the camera.

Leica Q-P in matted black

November 8, 2018: The Leica Q comes in a discrete matted black version without red dot. This version is with a leather camera strap (reddish brown) and two batteries included. Delivery starts from November 8 if you are fast before it goes into possible very long waiting list.

2019:

Leica Safari M10-P

January 26, 2019 Leica Camera AG announced the Leica M10-P Safari that is made in a limited run of 1,500 pcs. (Euro 7,800) there is also a Safar edition of the good old 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0 (Euro 2,500), which is an overseen diamond amongst the Leica lenses - a 1980's design that still holds up in a compact, economic and simple lens.

Traditionally, the Safari editions have been much-loved editions that has gone up in price. The Leica M8.2 Safari from 2008 sells for between 90% and 200% of new price, depending on condition.

The Leica 50mm APO and two other Leica lenses are announced as limited editions. The APO is the most interesting one, shaped as the Summicron 50mm f/2 (II) from 1956 in matt black. When used well it will brass as the whole barrel is made of brass. This iis very similar to the 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4 that was made in a similar limited edition. Both were first made as LHSA limited editions in gloss black paint, and not Leica Camera issues their own limited edition. The price is $9,600 which likely will go up.

The other limited editions is a black version of the 28 Summaron, and idea borrowed from Leica Store Tokyo who (as is often the case) make some interesting limited editions that Leica Camera AG later want to introduce globally.

The third limited edition is a silver edition of the Leica 28mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4. The reason it is limited edition is likely that the interest for a silver version is in any case limited.

New Leica Store in London

February 2019: Thanks to MacFilos, here's a couple of photos from the new Leica Store London and Leica GalleryLondon. After som eyars on Bruton Place, hidden in the nice neighbourhood, the new Leica Store is out in the open at 64-66 Duke Street in Mayfair, London.

I have made a few essential Presets for Lightroom that does minor adjustments to the Leica files, so as to get the tones the exact way that I want them.

The Presets have as their ideal, the Leica M9 sensor , as well as the Kodachrome film (which also happened to be the ideal for Leica when they developed the Leica M9 sensor). Not that it matters much, but that is the reason why I made my own Presets: To get the that look, rather than a “digital sensor look”.

I have made a few essential Styles for Capture One that does minor adjustments to the Leica files, so as to get the tones the exact way that I want them.

The Styles have as their ideal, the Leica M9 sensor , as well as the Kodachrome film (which also happened to be the ideal for Leica when they developed the Leica M9 sensor). Not that it matters much, but that is the reason why I made my own Styles: To get the that look, rather than a “digital sensor look”.

The continued production of Leica M7 and Leica MP film cameras ... and now also the Leica M-A

Contrary to rumors, the Leica MP and Leica M7 film cameras are still being produced (as can be seen in the below video from in 2009). They sell all over the world, though the Asian market seem to snap up the majority. If one revisit the Leica Camera AG website and take a look at the Leica M7 and Leica MP, one will see a classic design that is easily to fall in love with. And the prices are almost cheap, compared to the digital rangefinder Leica M ...

On May 2014 Leica Camera AG announced their new film camera, the Leica M-A, made in 101 pieces to celebrate the 100 years anniversary of Leica. A camera we may likely see in shops as well. In 2018, rumor had it that Leica Camera AG is now stopping the production of the Leica M7 film camera.

In April 2009 the film below was made of the assembling of the Leica M7 and Leica MP film cameras:

Click to watch the film from April 2009 from the Leica factory where one can see the Leica M7 and Leica MP film cameras being assembled (even in this digital age).

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Leica personalities

Dr. Andreas Kaufmann [born 1954]

Dr. Andreas Kaufmann:
First he bought a Canon PowerShot in 1999, then a Leica in 2003, then the entire Leica factory.

Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, a wealthy photography aficionado of Salzburg, Austria, took over Leica step by step from 2004-2006 with the intention of rescuing the company. Dr. Andreas Kaufmann is not the typical capitalist: He helped found Germany's environmental Green party in 1979, have been demonstraing against neuclear power, and taught history and German for 15 years at a Stuttgart school that follows the Waldorf model (derived from Rudolf Steiner).

In 2004, he took a small stake in Leica (via acm Projektenwicklung GmbH), raising it in steps to 96.5% by 2006 and 97.5% by 2010. The rest of the shares are publicly traded on the Frankfurt exchange.His fortune is estimated in the hundreds of millions of Euro and derives from a family owned pulp and paper company his family owned and managed for 101 years. The company acm Projektenwicklung GmbH is the company of the three brothers Andreas, Christian and Michael Kaufmann. In 2004 they sold the stocks in the family business since 1903, Zellstoff Frantschach AG to Mondi in London.

Kaufmann is probably more visionary than most can imagine. Either he saw which unpolished diamond of engineering know-how and unused lens and glass technology Leica Camera AG was hiding, or he was just lucky to buy a factory with a lot more potential than anyone knew was there. In any case, he doesn't seem to rest on the laurels and has the will and the economical power to push the development further than anyone ever imagined possible.

Read this story on Andreas Kaufmann and Leica Camera AG in the Ernst & Young magazine.

"The Japanese camera producers have started to copy Leica, again. That is a good sign, I think."- Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, September 2010 (referring to the Fuji X100 inspired by the Leica X1)

"The Leica is a tool for developing creativity,
in the way that you can create things a little bit different.
If you have the intention of becoming an artist – or are an artist – Leica helps you."- Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, January 2013

Stefan Daniel
Photo: David Farkas 2008

Stefan Daniel

Stefan Daniel, Director of Product Management and overall responsible for the development of the Leica M9 and Leica M240 and other models. He has been with Leica since he was 16 years old. He started as an apprentice in the machine shop and has now worked his way up to manage Leica's product family. He is the one in the top of Leica Camera AG with the most years in the company.

"There is no reason to mention in the camerea specifications what is not there" - Stefan Daniel
at Photokina 2012 about why the specifications of the Leica M
does not mention the AA filter. See video interview.

People who move the limits of technology

Professor Dr. Max Berek

Max Berek wrote the textbook on optical design that everybody studies even today when they want to learn lens design, “Grundlagen der praktischen Optik” (published first time in 1930 by W. de Gruyter & co.).
Available as eBook or printed book.

Max Berek, Gustav Kleinberg, Otto Zimmermann, Walter Mandler, Ernst Pausch, Horst Haseneier, Walter Kluck, Erich Wagner, Helmut Hildebrandt, Henry Weimer, Andre de Winter (an important expert for mechanical design, a great expert on design of lens mounts and bodies in the golden period of Leitz Midlands, Ontario between 1960 and 1980), Ludwig Schauss, Helmut Marx, Paul Sindel, Lothar Köelsch, Iain Neil, Walter Watz, Michael Heiden, Jan Schroeder, André de Winter, and Peter Karbe are some of the names there would be in the Leitz and Leica hall of fame if one such existed for Leica engineers and developers through the times.

Here are a little more history about some of them:

Professor Dr. Max Berek [1886-1949]
Max Berek was the architect of the first Leica lens which Ernst Leitz asked him to design for the "Barnack's camera." The lens was a f/3.5 50mm and was known as the Leitz Anstigmat and later the Elmax [Ernst Leitz Max Berek]. Five elements [with the last three elements in one group] helped to give the lens and outstanding performance which, according to Leica lens expert Erwin Puts, would result in an outstanding MTF measurement if done today.

He was employed at Leica in 1912 after he had finished his studies in mathematics and mineralogy in Berlin. He later won world fame for his inventions in the area of polarization-microscopy; the Brek compensator and the formula to compute depth of field of microscopic vision which are still in use today.

During the war, he was stripped of his doctor title by the government because he refused to corporate with the Nazi Party. After the war his status as a doctor was reestablished. He worked at Leica till his death in 1949.

Max Berek was awarded a personal Grand Prix price at the Paris World Exposition in 1937 for his designs of the Hektor lenses in 1929-1931 (50mm f/2.5 and 73mm f/1.9) and more designs made after those.

Dr. Helmut Marx

Helmut Marx, was a great German designer and one of the key designers (together with Paul Sindel) of the 1966 - 1975 Leica Noctilux-M 50 mm f/1.2 (No. 11 820), the first Leica lens to incorporate aspherical surfaces in its optical formula.

He was employed by Ernst Leitz from1952.

Dr. Walter Mandler [1922-2005]
Was a famous lens designer of Ernst Leitz Canada at Midland, Ontario. Walter Mandler dominated the optical development within Leitz from about 1950 till about 1985. He was 'wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter' (science assistant) in the department of Max Berek and had intimate knowledge of the challenges and problems associated with the lenses for the small Leica format. He was an expert on the chemistry and properties of the different optical glasses. When Leitz decided to set up a new company in Canada, he was asked to structure and manage the optical department there. Already in the fifties, the Leitz designers recognized the fundamental problems of small format and high-speed lenses and on both sides of the Atlantic solutions were created. In Wetzlar it was professor Marx who explored the first attempts of an aspherical design and in Midland it was Mandler who sought the service of the computer to speed up the design process. The period from 1950 to 1970 was one of the most exciting periods for optical designers as new approaches and insights could be explored without cost considerations, because of intense competition.

Dr. Walter Mandler

Dr. Walter Mandler was the father of legendary lenses such as the 50mm Noctilux-M f1.0 (designed 1969), the 35mm Summilux-M f1.4 (designed 1958), the 75mm Summilux-M f1.4 (designed 1980), the 80mm Summilux-R f1.4 (designed 1980) and the 180mm APO-Telyt-R f3.4 (designed 1975). Also, one can guess he was the designer of the Elcan series (see next page) that came out of Leica Canada. He retired in 1985 but continued as an optical advisor for Leica for many years. For an overview of the Mandler designed lenses, see my Leica Lens Compendium.

New trend: Having a Mandler and a Karpe set of lenses
I often get qestions as to which lenses I can recommend, or which are the most famous Leica lenses. It's individual depending on your use and shooting style, but the Mandler lenses definitely has a "classic Leica look" that one will be able to recognize in the images of the 70ties in LIFE Magazine (by to name an example). It's an era of fashion and design and all, a certain film workflow in black and white - but on top of it all, it's also possible to recognize the shooting style of the Leica M as well the distinguished look of Leica lenses.
But with designer
Peter Karbe and that technology drive his lens designs has required, modern Leica lenses has that Leica look, but with more contrast, improved sharpness, micro details and color accuracy. And with a new type of bokeh (how the out-of-focus areas of an image looks). Some of the new lenses simply seem to "see more" details than the human eye. But it's a more crisp and alive look than the Mandler lenses. All due to pretty advanced lens design and applied technology, parted with the new workflow of digital (workflow; this is simply how you get images. In the old days your "workflow" might have been that when you used Kodal GoldII and sent those tolls into a certain photo shop for prints, you got a certain look. If you changed film or lab, you got a different look. Today your "workflow" is that you shoot in this or that quality on the camera, use Lightroom or Aperture for processing the files, publish the images in Flickr or do your own print. That is what a "workflow" is).
In any case, and to make the point I was aiming to make: One should consider both the Mandler and the Karbe look. The Mandler was and is great, but the Karpe is today's look and - in my opinion - not only defines the new look of Leica but also utilizes the advantages all new technologies from glass design, optical design (made possible by new advanced machines with near-to-zero tolerances in grinding glasses), as well as the ruthless detailed look made possible via digital sensors and 100% enlargments on computer screens. So get a set og Mandler lenses, and get a set of Karpe lenses so as to utilize all you can from Leica.

Peter Karbe, head of Leica optics design, has worked on the 50mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 (according to rumor, he worked the lens design for ten years, and in his spare time), 75mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0. As the head optics designer at Leica he has also had a great deal to do with the Leica S lenses.

"Sitting with Peter you really get the feeling that these lenses are his children. Talk of certain lenses puts a small smile on his face and a glint in his eye. Then, he’ll go on about why it is special and unique. For instance, many know of his many years of work on the 50mm Summilux ASPH. He is extremely proud of this lens, pointing to the MTF-chart and exclaiming that wide open at f/1.4 it resolves 40lp at above 50%. He went into how he came up with the modified special double gauss design and how the back half of the lens is identical to the 35mm Summilux ASPH, while the front half is identical to the 50 Summicron. This was the secret to achieving such performance in a fast 50.

Then, he said that one Saturday morning over his first cup of coffee in his kitchen he thought about [Dr. Walter] Mandler. Apparently, after Mandler designed the Noctilux, he used the same design to build the 75 Summiux. And while Peter doesn't like the 75 Lux , he decided that he needed to design a 75 based on the 50 ASPH design. Shortly thereafter, keeping everything the same, except for removing one lens element in the first doublet behind the central ASPH element used to correct for aberrations caused at 1.4, he minted the design for the 75 APO Summicron ASPH.

I asked if the design was the same why the 75 was an APO lens and the 50 wasn’t. Here is a bit of a shocker… the 50 lux ASPH is an APO lens, containing an APO correction element. But, he thought the idea of an APO 50 was a bit silly so they never put it on the lens or in any marketing materials.

He really believes in revisiting the past for inspirations on the future. Peter said that he often thinks about what his predecessors from decades ago would do with today’s technology. This was his inspiration with the Summarits. Classic designs with a modern twist. He studies and claims (who would doubt him) that he is familiar with the designs of almost all of the Leica lenses made to date. He has his favorites as well as examples that were not so successful.

According to Peter, the great leaps in lens design were brought about by technological advances. The first was with new types of glass, then with coatings, followed by computer modeling, and now just recently, advances in mechanical design and manufacturing. This is why the S lenses and the new 21 Lux are as lightweight as they are. A lot of attention is now being paid by the design team to the manufacturing process. Karbe has organized small design teams in his fast-growing department to be more efficient and productive. An optics designer is paired with a mechanical designer and a production manager to develop the entire product, not just the optical path. Handling, feel, ease of manufacture, and consistency in quality control are equally important to imaging performance. Also, by using more shared designs and more common components, more lenses can be brought to market faster. The 35 and 50 Summarit. The 75 and the 90 Summarit. The new 21 Lux and 24 Lux are all examples of this. With the 21 and the 24, one designer did both lenses simultaneously as they are fundamentally the same optical formula.

Another interesting thing I learned was that Leica started using computer-aided modeling back in the 1960’s before anyone else. Since that time, they have had their own proprietary software (kept up to date, of course) based on calculations made at Leica over the last 100 years. He says this is one of Leica’s real advantages that no one can copy. The foundation of knowledge and expertise is handed down from each generation of lens designers to the next. The Leitz Glass Works has also been invaluable in learning about new formulations and the handling of exotic glass elements. These latest exotic glasses require a great deal of care in handling. Much like a piece of raw steel, this glass reacts adversely and rapidly with gasses in the air. They use a wet to wet to wet process in Solms, whereby the glass moves through the grinding, polishing and coating steps in one go, not spaced or binned. This is crucial to maintain the performance of these expensive elements which can cost more per ounce than pure silver.

We talked more about how the type of glass for certain lens elements are chosen and how, based on his experience, he just knows what effect this will have on aberrations. We discussed the trade-offs lens designers have to make and how MTF only tells part of the story."

"Aperture is only for depth of field, not light control."- Peter Karbe, September 2010 (on how to use the 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95 lens)

The brilliant mechanical designer: André de Winter with the Oscar the team behind the Leica Cine lenses won in 2015 for the Leica Cine lenses. He left Leica later in 2015. André has been working with the cine lenses since 2007 as Chief Mechanical designer at CW Sonderoptic. He was originally hired by Dr. Mandler in March 1969 to work on opto-mechanical design at Ernst Leitz Canada, Ltd. (ELCAN).The first projects André de Winter was put to work on, was the Leica-M underwater-housing (see next page) for the US Navy and the 50mm Noctilux-M f/1.0. He worked directly under Dr. Mandler and Gerhard Bechmann.

Shiyo is the "Lagerfeld of Leica" but his official title is store manager at the Leica Store Ginza in Tokyo.

The Leica Store Ginza in Tokyo was the first Leica Store, and set a quite high standard for how a Leica Store should present the brand.

Largely made by use of the most exclusive materials and with no shortcuts, by Japanese designers and the store manager Shiyo Takahashi (who used to be with Hermès), the store might have been a little hard to follow by German designers and the folks at Leica Camera AG when they rolled out the concept in a growing number of new cities in the years to follow.

Just to show how perfection and simplicity is done to the highest aesthetic standards, Shiyo Takahashi put the final touches on the Leica Store Kyoto that opened in an old teahouse in Kyoto in 2014.

If possible, the Kyoto store sets an even higher standard. This is where modern electronic cameras meets 400 year old building traditions. Yet it all comes together in a somewhat impossible, yet natural appearing mix of tradition and modernism. If Apple would ever look for inspiration for Apple Stores, this would be the place they would go.

In between these projects, Shiyo Takahashi is the one who comes up with interesting shopping bag designs and limited edition camera models in exotic orange and brown Hermes leather, or a white Leica M9 to name a few of the things that if often made worldwide Leica standards after the twist of extra class were first thoguth out in Japan.

Revival of a legend | Made in Germany. Report by Joanna Gottschalk, December 2012. Leica is forever. That motto was the brand’s selling point - and very nearly its downfall. After failing to keep pace with the digital revolution, in 2004 the German company almost went bankrupt. Then investor Andreas Kaufmann stepped in, and brought Leica back from the brink.

TIME Magazine November 2, 1953 with a Leica on the cover. By: BORIS ARTZYBASHEFF

The story inside TIME magazine is "Two Billion Clicks" about that Americans in 1953 will be taking 2 billion pictures that year and be spending $300 millions on equipment and camera gadgets. Furhter, the Mericans spent $100 million on developing and printing in 1953, as against $20 million in 1940 (65% of the market share fo this was Kodak Eastman).

They state that Americans with their photogrphy are "practicing an important art, the most typical art of the 20th century, and perhaps the only national folk art yet produced by the US" but also goes over discussing (with them self) the status of photography versus Leonardo da Vinci. TIME counts that there in 1953 was 55,000 professional photographers in the U.S., and 35 million amateurs.

Queen Elizabeth II used to use a silver Leica M3 with a Leica 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0 (Serial 15xxxxx) and also got a Leica M6 gifted from Leica Camera AG. She got the choice between a black and a silver Leica M6 and chooed the silver one with 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0

The famous head shot of Che Guevara, reproduced on millions of rebellious T-shirts and student walls: that was taken on a Leica with a portrait lens — a short telephoto of 90 mm — by Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, better known as Korda, in 1960. As is the pearl-gray smile-cum-kiss reflected in the wing mirror of a car, taken by Elliott Erwitt in 1955.

Leica again, as is the even more celebrated smooch caught in Times Square on V-J Day, 1945 — a sailor craned over a nurse, bending her backward, her hand raised against his chest in polite half-protestation. The man behind the camera was Alfred Eisenstaedt, of Life magazin. He did 80 frontpages for LIFE magazine in his lifetime.

When the lost Beatles and lost Rollign Stones photographs emerged in 2010, it was thanks to their road manager from 1964-1967 Bob Bonis who always carried his Leica M3. How unbelieveable it might be, he was road manager for the hottest tickets back then .... and photographed them when they tried to fix their car that had broken down, when at the pool outside the hotel - and many other exclusive moments. All available as book and prints from NeverFadeAwayGallery.com.

Magnum Photos and Leica

As of 2011 Leica Camera AG and Magnum Photos International are collaborating to draw on their shared legacy; looking back to the iconic stories their relationship has produced and commissioning new work from the current generation of Magnum photographers. As can be seen in this Magnum in Motion video:

The famous photo of the "Napalm girl" by Huynh Cong 'Nick' Ut of Associated Press was taken on June 8, 1972 with his Leica M2 and Leica Summicron 35/2 on a Kodak 400 ISO B&W film.

The photo very much changed the view on the Vietnam war, though President Nixon doubted its authencity - he thought it might have been 'fixed'.

The 9-year old girl in the photo, Phan Thi Kim Phúc, survived her burnings from the napalm bombing after 14 months in the hospital. The photographer took her to the hospital before he delivered the film to AP. She later founded an organization to help children of war.

The image won the Pulizer Price.

From grandfather to grandson - A Leica M3

A sweet story unfolded as I met this 17 year photographer with his Leica M3 and a rare collectors kit in a bag, in Paris, September 2013. All was bought from new in the 50s by his grandfather and now handed over to the grandson. They are both equally thrilled to see the camera is still being used, thought the dream is to get a Leica M 240.

Vietnam photographer Larry Burrow's Leica M4 picture from January 1966 of marines recovering a body comrade (girl to the right in the picture is Catherine LeRoy, the first woman photographer to win the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award (see below).

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Snapshot Poetics: "I do my sketching and observing with the camera".The great Beat-poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) with his Leica M6. Amongst other things, he said this which may be true for most Leica users and their cameras and lenses: "Somethings once you've loved them become yours forever. And if you try to let them go they only circle back and return to you. They become apart of who you are..."See some of his photographs with quotations in this Lens Culture article.

The famous Leica-user, Magnum photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) photographed in New York in 1947 by fellow photographer Arnold Newman. http://www.henricartierbresson.org

Stanley Kubrick's (1928-1999) self-portrait with his Leica.

Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894 - 1986).

Don Hunstein with his Leica. Don is the master behind the famous cover for Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and many behind the scenes photos of musicians like Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and who else came by Columbia Records where Don worked for 30 years. His book of music photography "Keeping Time: The Photographs of Don Hunstein" is available at Amazon and elsewhere. Short video at BBC.
I visited Don Hunstein in 2014 in New York and photographed him. You can see the images and read The story Behind That Picture here: "Freewheelin' With Don Hunstein".

Miles Davis with his Leica on the cover of the Live at Newport 1958. In an 1976-interview by Sy Johnson available online here Miles talk about the Leica he got in Germany and how much he liked it. He said he had the clerk set the shutter speed and aperture at the store when he bought the camera and hadn't changed them since.

Eugene William Smith (1918-1978) who was one of the famous names delivering photographs to LIFE magazine used Leica, amongst other cameras. On the set of Charlie Chaplin's "Limelight" he had six Leica's on hand, each equipped with one lens (28mm, 35mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 135mm - two cameras with a 35mm, which he used the most, in case one ran out of film). There's a couple of videos about him on YouTube: "The story of W. Eugene Smith" and "The World of W. Eugene Smith"

Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) with his Leica M6 in the documentary (2018) McQueen.

Magnum photographer Inge Morath now and then. The photo to the right is from 1958.

The Clark Family and the Leica: The story of Joe, Bernice and Junebug Clark of Detroit, USA is a story of real Leica users. Back in issue 1/1961 of the Leica Photography International magazine the family was featured in a 6-page story "One-Family Show" with the following intro:
"Joe's son Juneberg Clark not only didn't learn how to use a Leica untill he was three, but never earned a dime from his pictures until he was five!" (where he sold his first image to The Detroit News for whom he then worked for at age 6).
Junebug was 11 in 1961 when the family was featured in the LFI, and in 2011 the family donated the entire archive of photos shot by the mother, father and son to The University of North Texas that will curate, digitize and archive the collection for educational purposes. The collection represents one of the most extensive family archives from the golden age of American photography. The Clark's work has been featured in Life Magazine, National Geographic, Look and Newsweek.

The father, Joe Clark originally took work in Detroit as a nightwatch but was was so handy with the Leica that his images was soon exhibited, which then lead to assignments for companies and magazines. When the son Juneebug was born, he too handled the Leica pretty well, and one afternoon when Junebug was taking a bath in the backyard and dad was out, mother Bernice took up the Leica and made some pictures that ended up in magazines and was the kickstart of her lifelong career. Junebug Clark is a teacher at MAYBORN School of Journalism today.

Harold Crompton Robinson (1928-2008) was a professional photorapher who always had a Leica by his hand and won just about every photo competition he ever entered (which he did sparingly and unassumingly). His son Stephen Robinson is a professional photographer in Zambia, also a Leica user.

Seal is another big fan of Leica, with a private collection of 35+ Leica cameras that he uses at home, on tour and out and about. Follow his website and photo blog at seal.com

Lou Reed is known for his quote, "God should have a Leica". Here he is with his Leica M8 that he did quite a lot of infared photography with. Read an article about his photography and exhibitions here.

The well-used Leica M4 that belonged to Garry Winogrand (1928-1984). Read an interview of 1982 with him.

The Leica M3D that belonged to LIFE photographer David Douglas Duncan, also known for photographing Pablo Picasso through many years. The camera wa sold for 2.2 million dollars.

Portrait of Magnum photographer Dennis Stock (1928 – 2010) by Andreas Feininger, 1951. Feininger took this now-iconic photograph for Life magazine, after Dennis Stock won first prize in a competition for young photographers.

John Mayer with his film Leica M7. He has a few, a Leica M silver and Leica M9 in black.

German pioneer avant-garde and commercial photographer Ilse Bing (1899-1998) self portrait. Known as "Queen of the Leica". She gave up photography in the 1950's after a 15 year almost explosive career with exhibitions at Louvre in Paris, Mueum of Modern Art in New York and dedicated her time to writing poetry, made drawings and collages, and occasionally incorporated bits of photos.

The World Press Photo Award winner 2009 was taken with a Leica M6 TTL and 28mm by Anthony Suau. Above is a small video with him about winning the prize for the worlds finest press photograph of 2009, and shooting with his black Leica M6 TTL film camera and 28mm f/2.0 Summicron-M ASPH using a Voigtländer 28/35mm mini finder in the hotshoe.
He previously won the World PRess Photo Award in 1987 and a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for
his photographs of the famine [hunger] in Ethiopia.

Alfred Eisenstaed, the LIFE photographer who photographed "The Kiss", here in the UN building in New York, 1961 (photo by by Lisl Steiner). He received a special edition Leica M3 serial no 1000001 from Leica Camera AG in 1960, re-fitted with gold plated parts in 1989. He originally owned and used 35/1.4, 90/2, 35/2.8 and a 65/3.5 with the camera. He also owned and used two Leicaflex SLR cameras and Telyt 200mm, 280mm and 400mm lenses.

Alfred Eisenstaed with Marilyn Monroe in Beverly Hills, 1953

Jessica Lange (born 1949) is an avid Leica photographer on set, in life and doing photo projects and exhibitions. In 2008 she published her book 50 Photographs along with an exhibition at the George Eastman House. In 2010 she published her bookIn Mexico along with an exhibition. In 2013 she made a children's picture book It's About a Little Bird, and in 2014 she exhibited in Moscow's Multimedia Art Museum.

The daily kit of Hyoni Kang (Ford's Supermodel of the World 2008) include the Leica C-Lux.

Batman movie director Zack Snyder is also an avid Leica photographer. The first released image from the 2014 Batman movie was tweeted by Zack Snyder on his twitter - shot with the Leica M Monochrom.

British actor David Suchet is an avid Leica photographer, known and loved as 'Poirot' for many people. He uses his grand-dad's Leica M3 (which he did a documentary about for ITV in 2012 - click on the picture above to watch or here to read the article), as well as Leica M 262 and Leica M Monochrom.

Classic beauty meets classic beauty: Scarlett Johansson using her Leica M6 during filming in Spain of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" with Woody Allen, June 2007 (unknown photographer; from a blog). Or, the camera might be Woody Allen's own as he is a Leica fan as well (and by the way received a honorary Leica M8.2 from Leica in 2008).

Another notable photos from "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Penelope Cruz with her Leica (or Woody's or whatever).

Selfie anno 1948 of German entertainment photographer Umbo alias Otto Umbehr (1902 - 1980). Founding member of the Umbo Delphot (Deutscher Photodienst GmbH) agency in 1928 that was closed when the Nazis came to power in 1933. His archive of more than 50,000 negatives burned in 1943.

Elvis Presley with his Leica (1968)

French born Catherine LeRoy (1944-2006) in Vietnam, the first woman photographer to win the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award.

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Catherine LeRoy's image of Corpsman Vernon "Doc" Wike during the battle for Hill 881 in 1967 in Khe Sanh, Vietnam, and as a portrait years later in 2005. For more images, see the book Great Photographers and Writers in Vietnam.

Photographer Georgii Petrusov on the Red Square in Moscow, 1936. Photographed by Alexsandr Rodtschenko. The inserted image is the result of the work (which was sold at Sotherbys in 2008 as Gelantin silver print).

British photojournalist and Leica user Tom Stoddart did this great feature on BBC to celebrate the 100 years gone past: "One hundred years of Leica cameras". Above is his historic image from Sarajevo, a woman conquering war with beauty and elegance. See more on his website, featuring also exclusive behind-the-scenes photogrpahs from the Tony Blair campaign.

Annie Leibovitz with her Leica M6 she uses for assignments and for private family photos. She uses several cameras such as Hasselblad, Mamyia, Leica S2, Leica M6, Canon, Nikon - and no particlur brand (the famous John Lennon photo of him naked next to Yoko Ono, taken hours before his death, was a 6x6 shot). Photo from the 2008-documentary "Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens" by Barbera Leibovitz

Katy Perry with Leica - Ellen von Unwerth Photoshoot 2012

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Video tutorials, image test files, presets, checklists, definitions, tutorials of Lightroom and Photoshop that boils down years of experience to a workflow you can implement in less than one day.

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Brad Pitt is also, besides being interested in architecture and design, an enthusiastic photographer. One the above shot he's using a Leica R8 DMR but uses Leica M cameras as well. He did a very nice black and white series of his wife Angelina Jolie for W Magazine (November 2008 edition).

Brad Pitt with his film Leica.

Ralph Gibson with his Leica. He started his career as a photographer in the US Navy and later become assistant to Robert Frank before he set out for himself.

One of the reasons I always keep my Leica DMR digital back fully charged is the chance that model and photogarpher Lisa Snowdon may stand at my doorstep one day, asking if she could lend it for her Leica R9. She can, and a few lenses too.

The well-used Leica MP of Jim Marshall (1936-2010) who photographed The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Bod Dylan, Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin ... them all. Also a video about him here.

Vivian Maier is mostly known for her 6x6 cm negatives photographed with the Rollieflex she got in 1952. When color film came about she started using Kodak Ektachrome and a Leica IIIc. Many of those color films are still undeveloped and may remain so till a technology exist to save them.

John Maloof is the one who discovered Vivian Maier and who owns the majority of the archive. Here he is with his own Leica (and director of the movie "Finding Vivian Maier", Charlie Siskel).

Danish Middle East correnspondent Lasse Jensen has been reporting from the Middle East for Danish television for more than 25 years. For his blog and him self he uses a Leica M9 and have used Leica M3, M6.

Model, actress and photographer Suzy Parker in New York, 1953 (photo by by Peter Stackpole)

Dr. Paul Wolff (1887-1951) was a prominent German photogrpaher and one of the first to adopt the Leica from he got one of the 31 prototypes that were made in 1924. Whilst many of his photographs are published, a great deal of his archive burned during the World War II. He published 25-30 books with his photos from 1914 to 1950, amongst them the book "Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica" (1934; there was an exhibiton of the same name the year before) and the "Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica farbig" (1944, "My experience with Color Photography") . Photo by: Willi Klar, 1940.Read my article about Dr. Paul Wolff here: "Dr. Paul Wolff and the Leica"

Brigitte Bardot with Leica

Buy the new eBook
"Composition in Photography"
by Thorsten von Overgaard

Composition in Photography- The Photographer as Storyteller

This book will inspire your photographic eye and make you wonder about all the possibilities you can now see.

In this exciting new book Thorsten Overgaard expands and simplifies the subject of composition. It's elevated from geometric patterns to actual storytelling by practical use of space, rhythm, time, colors, emotions and intuition in your photography.

- The Basics of Composition.
-
Composition in the Third Dimension.
- Picture Stories.
- Accenturating with Light.
- Photograph as a Melody.
- Which lens are you?
- Fear of sharpness?.
- Vanishing Point.
- The most important
element of composition

- What is the unknown secret
why it is you mostly can't get
the Rule of Thirds to work?

- How does a camera see
differently than the eye?

- What does quantum physics and
photography have in common?

- What's the greatest adventure you can
set out on in photography these days?
- A Sense of Geometry.

Leica Camera AG officially started building the new headquarter in Wetzlarer on April 28, 2012. Due to the state of the world the plans of building the new factory had been paused for a couple of years after that the first buildings of Leitz Park had been completed (and occupied by sumsuppliers to Leica Camera AG and with tight relations to Andreas Kaufmann).

If one imagine an industrial park with a number of companies that are separate, but related in building and distributing Leicas, then that is probably close to the ideal scene of the Leitz Park that is in the outskirts of the already existing industrial area of Wetzlar. One may see one new Leica factory, but the other buildings that has been there for some years, are related, though not Leica Camera AG.

The Kaufmann-owned companies Viaoptic GmbH (molded optics, gears, lens assembly), CW-Sonderoptik GmbH (Leica Cine lenses) and Weller (founded by Uwe Weller in 1994 when Weller took over the machining division from Leica Camera AG, Dr. Kaufmann is Chairman of the Advisory Board) have been producing from the Leitz Park complex since 2009.

Leica Camera AG had been planning to add an additional factory to their existing since 2008, The building was originally planned to finish in spring 2011 but the building project was paused when the "global finance crisis" sat in.

Wetzlar is the place where Leica Camera AG originated, but it is also a slightly larger city than Solms that Leica Camera AG moved to in the 80s when the Leica business was separated. Interestingly, the camera division with its 1,000 staff was just 1/10th of the Leica brand back then - but when one say Leica, it's the cameras people think of.

The future development of the Leica Camera AG presence in Wetzlar may be a Leica World combining Leica, photography with art and and design. To begin with, the new building will feature a Leica Store Wetzlar, a Leica Gallery Wetzlar and of course the factory with production, research & development and Customer Service when it opens official on May 23, 2014. The department staffs of Leica Camera AG in Solms have know for more han a year where and how they would fit into the new building, and the actual moving to the new building happened over several months between January and May 2014.

The Leica factory as it looked in June 2011 when the building had been paused for a souple of years. In the background the two existing buildings with
the Leica sub-suppliers Viaoptic, CW-Sonderoptik and Weller in full swing, employing approximately 250 persons. Photo: Thorsten Overgaard June 2011.

"The Overgaard Photography Workshop is an investment that pays immediate dividends.

In four short days there was a marked swagger in my step. This may sound irrelevant to photography, but in my opinion it’s one of the unspoken tangibles that make professional photographers like Thorsten so damn good – their confidence is able to make them disappear in a sense, and put their subjects at ease.

The funny thing about this is that it wasn't something discussed during the workshop, it was something that I learned from observing Thorsten work. The way he moved without hesitation, the manner in which he sized up his subject, and got the shot and moved on. Quick, clean, and confident! For me, that was the most valuable part of the workshop – spending four days at the elbow of a professional photographer!

What an experience!

I came away excited, eager, and confident that I could produce the kind of photographs I've always envied!

Thank you to my friend Thorsten! Some time in the future, somewhere in the world, our paths will cross again!"

- J. J. (New York)

User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshops in Rome and Paris:

"Thank you for the Rome workshop.

The last days I spent with you in Rome I have done once before. So why do it again? Same type of workshop and with the same photographer.

Simply because I was so inspired by the first workshop two years ago, that I felt I would (and could) squeeze even more out of you a second time.

Of course some repetition was present on theory but two photo shootings are newer the same, and you always get new information there either wasn't presented the first time, or that you did not grasp at that time.

My overall goal taking part in the Rome Workshop was to focus much on the light, which I can transfer to future photo and television news stories that I produce.

And I got it!

The hands-on practice and advice from you benefits both experienced pro's like my self, and amateurs who wants to step up a level. So with my tired feet walking around hot Rome, I now will go back to work and let the experiences and inspiration go into my photography works.

You are newer too old, too experienced or (especially) too good to learn. Thank you for good company and learning experiences. Thank you to Princess Joy villa and Robin Isabella as well!"

"The Berlin Workshop is still resonating with me. It was truly a great experience, and was really nice to meet you and your family!"

- T. S. (Canada)

"I wanted to take a moment and thank you again for all of the inspiration you give to so many of us. Earlier this evening I participated in an art show. Now, I have to admit that there are few things more satisfying as an artist than knowing that someone is not only willing to pay for your photographs but display them in their home or office. Thank you for all you do."

- L. T. (USA)

User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshp:

"I diligently edit and process my images after every shoot as taught in your workshop and am always up to date with my images.

I have had your New Inspiration Course for a couple of days and have viewed all videos. I recently submitted a few images to a gallery in Portland for an exhibit.

I will continue to refine and work on the things you have talked about."

- J. L. (Canada)

"It was a wonderful time, so many wonderful lasting friendships developed in this workshops!"

- R. W. (Austria)

"Since we have met in the Overgaard Workshop Amsterdam I have been going wild making photos. Your approach really enabled me to make a steep change in making and processing photos. Many thanks for this!"

- E. A. (Netherlands)

"I’m more confidence in doing portraits after the workshop."

- B. N. (UK)

"The Berlin Workshop is still resonating with me. It was truly a great experience, and was really nice to meet you and your family!"

- T. S. (Canada)

Thorsten Overgaard Workshop Review:

"Thorsten, I appreciate the genuine way in which you continue to communicate with your students and admire your success in creating a community of enthusiasts around you.

"I was such a beginner when I did your workshop that it has taken me quite a while to incorporate what you taught us into my photographic life.

"I remember you are not a fan of spending hours on a photo, and nor am I – indeed one of the benefits of the workshop was to show how one could spend more time out and about with the camera".

- M. B. (France)

"Thank you again for sharing the basics of your craft with us in Milano! It was a pleasure to meet you and I hope to find another opportunity to join one of your future classes in a different city soon!"

- Y. M. (Switzerland)

"Thanks a lot for a great workshop in Stockholm - it was f…… fun and inspiring."

- G. M. (Denmark)

Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Paris:

"Thank you for the great days and your hospitality. Besides meeting you, Joy and the others and having a good time, the workshop inspired me a lot and I learnt lots of new things.

I took more photos than I usually take and was more courageous as well in shooting people. That was great! I´m really happy with the results and what I did.

There is also an element of frustration about start working with the photos in a better way, to learn more, to improve, to take more time for photography. Let's see what changes this might lead to".

- B. K. (Sweden)

"It was a good time in Paris, it really inspired me a lot. And good to get to know you."

- B. N. (France)

"Thanks for an inspiring workshop and nice company in a lovely city. It was really great getting together with you and be in the Leica-bubble for a few days. I liked the relaxed atmosphere and learning from you"

- B. K. (Sweden)

Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Hong Kong:

"It was a great pleasure spending the past three days with you guys. It was a lot of fun walking around Hong Kong with our Leica.

Thank you Thorsten for sharing your professional experience with us, it really changed my point of view on keeping data files. With the advancement of technologies, we must keep a set of data which can take the test of times. That's a very important message amongst others that I learned in the past three days.

In the meantime, always carry your camera and be ready for the next shot!"

- B. L. (Hong Kong)

"First of all my gratitude goes to Thorsten who wants to share his knowledge about (Leica) photography, answering to all our recurring questions.

His methodology is perhaps not what hardware-, software-, cloud-, ...companies want us to do but as a former IT engineer I can only acknowledge his views about preserving our digital "heritage".

Unfortunately the times of the shoe boxes with our 10x15cm photographs are gone (with or without the negatives). Some markings on the envelope and that was it. Some had photo albums for the major events. The advantage of the old system is that anyone could view your pictures without any specialised hardware. I have some 19th century negative glass plates and you can still see what's on it alas in negative.

Recently I found back some negatives my grandfather took in the first WW with his Kodak Vestpocket camera ... In a world full of digital wonders like smart phones we never take so much pictures as nowadays as a society. Most of these pictures are lost or will be lost shortly because of a new smart phone, hard disk crash, incompetence of the user. The chance your hard drive crashes is higher than of your home burns down.

The workflow explained is for me the best I have ever seen. The portrait session; we missed the model but Bengt did a great job. He has FB profile photos for the next 10 years...

Explaining how to observe the light... It was a pleasure to meet you all in this fantastic workshop in Amsterdam, hope we will keep in touch somehow."

- E. B. (Netherlands)

"Than you for an inspiring course in Stockholm, and thanks to your expansive personality and great camera knowledge, lightly conveyed.

The Lightroom Survival Kit will help me remember the intricacies of geting the raw file into a great picture."

- E. B. (Sweden)

Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Vienna, Austria:

"I would like to say thank you for the workshop. It was a great experience of realizing my potential, capturing important hints and of course meeting you personally.

It was a pleasure for me to join you and the Leica fellows these summer days in Vienna."

- A. P. (Russia)

"I just wanted to write and say it was a very inspiring three days with you all - I learned a lot from everyone. It was a pleasure to meet you all and hope to see many more of your photos in the future.

Thank you for this Thorsten. It was a great use of three days and you really taught me a lot and inspired me very much, not only in photography but music and life. I look forward to when our paths cross again. All the best man."

- E. Z. (Bosnia)

Review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop in Rome, Italy:

"I enjoyed myself very much in the Rome Workshop. I learned a lot, and only now the full experience is sinking in.

Thank you. I am trying make the New York Monochrome Masterclass.

All the best to Princess Joy Villa and Robin Isabella".

- E. L. (Jerusalem, Israel)

"This is just to let you know that I had a great time these last three days in Amsterdam. We had a good group and I liked the relaxed way in which you approach photagraphy. I picked up a number of valuable ideas and technical tricks. Thanks a lot!"

- M. L. (Netherlands)

"I take the opportunity to thank everybody for having the pleasure of sharing fantastic moments with you all."

- A. S. (Netherlands)

Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Sydney, Australia:

"Thank you again for the great time in Sydney. It was (and I say this quite seriously) a life changing experience. I'm a lot more confident to take and show my photos now. You should be proud that you have obviously brought knowledge and confidence to so many people. I will see you again some time in the future for a refresher."

- J. G. (Australia)

Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Malmo, Sweden:

"I was participant on your photo workshops in Malmo in 2011 and 2012. My abilities increased beyond imagination after that. Will you be offering a workshop only about portrait photography?"

- C. B. (Malmo, Sweden)

Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Berlin, Germany:

"Meeting you was one of the most memorable things in my life!"

- I. L. (USA)

Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Bangkok, Thailand:

"I'm one of the luckiest guys in the world who have chance to attend the Thorsten Overgaard workshop in Bangkok."

- N. S. (Thailand)

User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop:

"I also wanted to express my gratitude again for the great workshop experience. As you know, I have been rediscovering my love of photography, and I feel that – beyond everything I learned about light, technique and software – I really took a giant step forward in "seeing" again, and in embracing the sheer fun of making photos.

I think your design of the workshop os right on the mark. The full day of ambling around, looking for the beautiful light, and taking (hopefully) great photos. I know it worked for me (since I was up at 3 AM trying to take pictures of the downtown skyline).

I feel energized about my photography, and am planning on getting much more involved with it over the coming months. I've been taking photos of fun things in the countryside on my way to work (I drive through about thirty miles of fields, dairies, falling-down buildings, old and rusting farm equipment and so on). I'm also learning more about both Lightroom and Media Pro.

So, thanks again for a great experience. I hope to take another of your workshops again."

- B. S. (San Francisco)

Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Seoul, Korea:

"Dear Thorsten and Joy, I wish to thank you and Joy for a wonderful four days of photography. From the first day of theory to the last day of choosing our best, it was a wonderful experience that inspired me to take more pictures and share them with others.

I learned a great deal from your critical comments and also your showing how to improve the final picture through minor adjustments in Lightroom. Many of my friends have a heavy hand with Lightroom but you showed us how to adjust the camera so that minimal post processing was necessary to have a good final product.

Joy was also such a pleasure to be with. She is such a professional in her chosen field of modeling, entertainment and production. Her sharing of this knowledge with us was a compliment to Thorsten's photographic knowledge. She was also very flexible and willing to share her poetry with us after coming out of the cold of Seoul's winter too.

I will always remember those four days as being very special because of both of you. When you come to Seoul again, I plan to be there!

Again thank you for a wonderful photo experience."

- G. F. (Korea)

Overgaard Workshop in Berlin.

Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop Review Video

"I'll add my thanks to everyone for making this a thoroughly enjoyable workshop -- very atypical from those that I've taken in the past.

Thorsten, the way you've mixed the practical (technical) and the craftsmanship of making a good image with arguably the best tools out there left me with very actionable take-aways.

Thorsten and Joy - thank you for being wonderful gracious hosts and hope our paths will cross again."

- D. C. (USA)

"If you want to feel more confident with photographing and editing your photos from DNGs to finished pictures and have fun while doing it, I can warmly recommend attending Thorsten’s workshop. Not only did he help me shoot with more confidence, but he also taught me his editing workflow. He has a pleasant way of instructing and he inspires his students to develop a style of their own."

- P. V. (Monaco)

"Thanks for pushing your students to use those extreme apertures more frequently. Fun stuff.
I hope you are well wherever you are."

- B. P. (France)

"It was a great pleasure spending the past three days with you guys. It was a lot of fun walking around Hong Kong with our Leica cameras.

Let us share this passion and try to get together with each other and share our creations over coffee, lunch or dinner.

Thank you Thorsten for sharing your professional experience with us, it really changed my point of view on keeping data files. With the advancement of technologies, we must keep a set of data which can take the test of times. That’s a very important message amongst others that I learned in the past three days.

In the meantime, always carry your camera and be ready for the next shot! Let’s try to get together again!"

- B. L. (Hong Kong)

"I would like to say thank you for the workshop we recently had. It was a great experience of realising my potential, capturing important hints and of course meeting you personally. It was a pleasure for me to join you and the few Leica fellows these summer days in Vienna."

- A. N. (Austria)

"Thanks again for a fantastic workshop in Montreal. it was a highlight of my summer."

- A. S. (USA)

"Just a short note to say how much I enjoyed your seminar this past weekend in Havana. You were able to clear up most of my photography questions and give me a great deal of other things to think about in image capture and techniques.

I am still quite rusty on the Lightroom use and manipulation, but I suspect that will be secondary to capturing good images going forward. Confidence in color was the real treat of the weekend."

- C. J. (USA)

"It was a pleasure to work and play with all of you for the last four days. A great experience I won’t soon forget. Now I have 11 new friends from around the world.

Many thanks to Joy for dressing up and posing out in the hot sun for a few hours for our photo shoot - I’m sure it wasn’t easy! Very much appreciated!!

And of course many thanks to Thorsten for being so patient and working through the details of being an excellent Leica photographer … searching out the light and introducing us to his efficient workflow processing procedure. I am approaching my photographer in a much different light now, compared to my photography life prior to the course.

Awesome!"

- A. R. (USA)

"Thank you for a great couple of days. It has been super fun and educational. I enjoyed our conversations, and now when I’ve looked through your best pics, I feel humble and starting to realise that I have a lot to learn.

Thank you Thorsten and thank you Joy for all support and I wish you both the best of luck with future endeavours.

Fun to meet so many more Leica users. I would love to keep in touch so if you are on Facebook"

- L. M. (Sweden)

"Many thanks for a terrific workshop! Cannot tell you how much I enjoyed learning from you and with colleagues (and new friends) from around the world. I feel that my skills improved, and everyone learned in a very relaxed manner. Joy was extraordinarily gracious to work with all of the students."

- J. P. (USA)

"what a magical three days!!! I greatly appreciated being with such a terrific, interesting and compatible group, and learning not only from Thorsten and Joy, but from each other."

- M. M. (Germany)

"I've had some time to reflect on the Perth workshop and wanted to send you a note to say a big thank you for everything that you taught me over the four days!

It was fun, relaxed, informative and a really positive environment. You and Joy complimented each other perfectly, your collective enthusiasm is infectious and you've changed the way I look at the world.

The three key things I took away from the workshop are:
1) love your gear,
2) keep it simple, and
3) just do it!

I now understand why people who attend one workshop are likely to do another one. I think attending a second workshop would be like listening to your favourite song with really good headphones - you get so much more out of it! I will definitely be back!

I can't recommend your workshop highly enough - if anyone is even considering it they should definitely do it (although, be prepared to want more Leica gear)!"

- J. H. (Australia)

"Enjoying my photography more than ever since the workshop. Love the monochrome Leica."

- R. F. (UK)

"Thanks again for the GREAT workshop experience.

It is going to take me awhile to return to (almost) normal after the last several days. I have photo and software details swirling around in my brain, and am trying to assimilate it all. I hope the three of you had a good trip this morning and that you have a wonderful time in Florida as well."

"I've had some time to reflect on the Perth Workshop and wanted to send you a note to say a big thank you for everything that you taught me over the four days.

It was fun, relaxed, informative and a really positive environment. You and Joy complimented each other perfectly, your collective enthusiasm is infectious and you've changed the way I look at the world.

I now understand why people who attend one workshop are likely to do another one. I think attending a second workshop would be like listening to your favourite song with really good headphones - you get so much more out of it! I will definitely be back!

I can't recommend your workshop highly enough - if anyone is even considering it they should definitely do it (although; be prepared to want more Leica gear)!

Since finishing the workshop I've bought a light meter and ordered a WhiBal card and a Rock'n'Roll camera strap from Tie Her Up. I've downloaded the workshop notes and saved them to my iPad for holiday reading and will get a new Apple laptop and some hard drives in the new year, start going through all my photos and set up the workflow you taught us.

Most importantly, I'm now carrying the Leica X Vario with me more often!

Until we meet again, keep having fun and spreading the love!"

- J. H. (Australia)

"I’ve been several days thinking about the workshop we attended, and I’m still thinking about it!

Throsten's job was very professional and complete. And the style he suggested fitted exactly with my way of thinking photography: search for the light, then search for the subject. The use of Leica lenses wide open (with the help of ND filters) - terrific!

My photographs really explode in my computer. Thank you Thorsten and Joy, those four days wil be unforgetable to me."

- A. B. (Argentina)

"Three pleasant days have changed forever, years of strong image production.

Congratualtion to Thorsten who could immediately create a team spirit maintain everybody's 3 days 110 % focus on improving ."

- M. J. (USA)

"I had a great time also. Since I only bought my first Leica about 3 months ago, I know I have a lot to learn, and I really feel I have a superb jump start with all of you help. Thanks Thorsten, Joy and everyone else. Please let’s stay in touch."

- S. G. (USA)

"Thorsten, thanks for another great experience. I look forward to one in Toronto or Montreal!"

- J. H. (London)

User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop:

"Thanks again for the GREAT workshop experience!

It is going to take me a while to return to (almost) normal after the last several days. I have photo and software details swirling around in my brain, and I am trying to assimilate it all."

- B. S. (USA)

"I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for a really fantastic workshop and the time spent together. This weekend will always be very well remembered!"

- S. M. (Germany)

User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop in Hong Kong:

"Thanks again for an amazing experience. Definitely keen to do another workshop with you both in the near future to hone my skills. Apologies for having to run out constantly. Thanks again for everything."

- G. C. (Hong Kong)

Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in London:

"I was in a flat spot with my picture making, I was reading your blog which I follow with great interest. Your blog said 'wear your camera and get out and do something'.

Well after a bit of thought, I went out and put on an exhibition of 80 pictures in our local library exhibition room. This turned out to be very successful with photographic societies and others visiting the exhibition.

Thank you for having inspired me!"

- R. D. (UK)

"Now, 10 days after of our workshop I am feeling even much more grateful to your three days of relaxed lesson. I have been shooting every day and I can notice your legacy more present in my photos .

I have been changing all my image workflow and now it is simpler , faster and much better final result
Many thanks and congratulation your teaching system that keep people improving, it doesn't finish when at workshop ends."

- M. J. (France)

"Thank you Thorsten. I'll try and get at least one image everyday. "

- D. P. (USA)

Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop Review:

"Towards the end of 2012, I purchased a Leica M9P camera and Leica 35mm lens; I did not know how much this little black box was about to shape all of 2013 for me.

In Jan 2013 I attended a four-day workshop in London with Danish photographer Thorsten Overgaard. It was, not only, an incredibly informative few days but also tons of fun and I met some wonderful people. The encouragement I got from Thorsten and everyone else gave me an incredible boost to get 2013 started. In fact I loved the workshop so much I immediately enrolled on the Sept 13 session which turned out to be even better.

I found Thorsten's straightforward approach to both using the camera and towards editing extremely refreshing but it was the way he taught me how to look for light that, honestly, changed the way I view the world.

I see differently now and because of that I also think differently. I've started to compose and record music in a way that is much clearer and for the first time in my career true to how I want to hear it."
(Feel free to see images on my blog).

"First of all I would like to thank you for some very educational and inspirational days in Sydney. I feel that I've grown a lot as a photographer, not only through what you taught us, but also by just observing how you move and interact with subjects on the street. And your "All you need is love" approach to photography is the best advise I've ever received as a photographer.

I'm still aiming for my "less is more" approach to photography. If something doesn't add to the story you’re trying to tell then try to crop it out (preferably in camera) or wait for the right moment when there are no distractions. I just had another look at your website and one of my favorite photos is of the Sikh reading a book shot with the 80mm Summilux-R. There must be hundreds of people in that photo but they all add to the story and therefore not a single one should be cropped. Very inspiring indeed!

Hope to see you again in the future, in Australia or somewhere else around the world. All the best."

Grandfather of 35mm photography
Leica invented the 24x36mm film format, the 35mm camera, the film enlarger for the darkroom (1920s), the flash shoe, the length of a roll film (with 36 pictures; this was how far Barnack could stretch his arms), auto focus lenses (in the 70s), the "reporter" film back (Leica 250 with 250 pictures in 1933), and more...

Thorsten von Overgaard is a Danish writer and photographer, specializing in portrait photography and documentary photography, known for writings about photography and as an educator.
Some photos are available as signed editions via galleries or online. For specific photography needs, contact Thorsten Overgaard via e-mail.

Most people prefer to explore a
new place when doing my workshop.
30% of my students are women.
35% of my students dotwo or more workshops.
95% are Leica users.
Age range is from 15 to 87 years
with the majority in the 30-55 range.
Skill level ranges from two weeks
to a lifetime of experience.
97% use a digital camera.
100% of my workshop graduates photograph more after a workshop.

Most people prefer to explore a
new place when doing my workshop.
30% of my students are women.
35% of my students dotwo or more workshops.
95% are Leica users.
Age range is from 15 to 87 years
with the majority in the 30-55 range.
Skill level ranges from two weeks
to a lifetime of experience.
97% use a digital camera.
100% of my workshop graduates photograph more after a workshop.